Iranian cleric Mehdi Taeb, head of the Ammar Strategic Base that advises Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, revealed that Iran had made three attempts to arm the Houthis in Yemen with surface-to-surface missiles, but that the shipments had been returned by Iranian President Rohani, who claimed that the Obama administration that threatened to halt the JCPOA negotiations. Thus, Taeb accused Rohani of sharing responsibility for the bloodshed in Yemen. Taeb also discussed scenarios of the Houthis taking over Jedda, Riyadh, and ultimately, the holy places of Mecca, using Iranian missiles to ground the Saudi airforce. The video was posted on social media networks in April, 2017.

Mehdi Taeb: With regard to Yemen, God has given you such a gift thanks to your resistance. You will appreciate Yemen only when you have the chance to pray next to [the Kaaba] in the house of God. Even the enemy could not imagine a force of a million [soldiers], under the leadership of someone like Hassan Nasrallah. Such a force could advance by foot to the Jizan, Asir, and Najran areas, climbing mountains and traversing valleys, in order to capture military bases in Saudi Arabia, empty them of medicine, weapons, and so on, and get out quickly. If it remains, it would be bombarded. The force would get out, wait for 10 or 15 days, and then attack the rearranged supplies once again. If the force wants to capture Jedda and Riyadh, it has [a problem] of 400 kilometers of open road, with no air defense. Apache helicopters could come and destroy it. There is only one way - to ground the Saudi airforce, and then, [to attack] with surface-to-surface missiles. We have plenty of missiles, and they don't.

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Let me tell you, [President] Rohani shares responsibility for all the blood spilled in Yemen. Why? Because his JCPOA blocked the transfer of missiles to [the Houthis]. We tried three times and were on the verge of success, but each time, he told us that the Americans had said that if we went ahead, they would not continue the negotiations. Once they were sent on an airplane, once on a warship, and once on another ship. Each time, they were returned because of the JCPOA.

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