Oct 27, 2015

TEHRAN, Iran — The Ansar Allah movement in Yemen, commonly known as the Houthis, has always extended a very special respect for the Islamic Republic of Iran. While not as deep as portrayed in Western media, ties between Iran and Ansar Allah go back in time. Indeed, the founder of the Yemeni movement — Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, the brother of current leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi — traveled to Tehran as far back as 1986, in the heyday of the Iran-Iraq War.

Houthi leaders have been very much influenced by the Islamic Republic and sought to convince Tehran to extend the kind of support it offers to Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement. This has, however, never materialized. The Houthis have never managed to gain a position anything close to that of Hezbollah in Iran’s regional calculations — not even now, with the current Saudi-led war on Yemen. Indeed, while Iran has strongly condemned the Saudi offensive, it has gotten involved in the current Yemeni crisis under very different circumstances than that expected of a fervent ally of the Houthis.

Former head of the Foreign Relations Committee of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, told Al-Monitor, “Iran did not want to get involved in the conflict in Yemen. The Saudi military aggression and extensive killing of Yemenis forced Iran to get involved in order to help promote peace.” While emphasizing that “Iran’s interests are best served by peace and stability in the region,” Mousavian also underscored that “it is impossible to maintain peace in Yemen without Iran’s involvement.” Does this then mean that Iran’s support for the Houthis will finally be stepped up to the level extended to Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement? The probable answer is a resounding “no.” To gain a better grasp of why this is the case, there are multiple realities on the ground that must be borne in mind.

First, as far as geography and geopolitics are concerned, Yemen's strategic importance for Iran is simply not comparable to that of Lebanon. Yemen is peripheral, while Lebanon is situated in the heart of the Middle East. Having a presence in Lebanon is important for Iran as it offers a direct vantage point over Israel, an entrance to the wider Levant and access to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Yemen offers no advantage of this importance for Iran. On the contrary, for foreign actors, Yemen has turned out to be an impoverished quagmire with no signs of long-term peace and stability on the horizon.

Second, while Iran faces multiple rivals such as France, Israel and Saudi Arabia in Lebanon, its only competitor in Yemen is Saudi Arabia. This does not, however, mean that competition in Yemen is less fierce. The Saudis are in fact far more sensitive about Yemen than Lebanon, given that Saudi Arabia has a land connection with Yemen and shares 1,307 kilometers (812 miles) of border. For instance, the Khamis Mushait base in Saudi Arabia is only 96 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Yemeni border and can be hit with a rudimentary rocket. Such an incident would easily result in war expanding into Saudi territory. In comparison, conflict in Lebanon in no way involves Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity. Thus, from an Iranian perspective, proxy conflict with Saudi Arabia in Yemen carries the added potential danger of more radical escalation.