Houthi Arms Came from Saleh, not Iran
Gareth Porter says the claim that Iran is supplying Houthis with weapons
ignores that the group was flush with American arms from ex-president
Saleh - April 25, 2015
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Bio
Gareth Porter
is a historian and investigative journalist specializing in US foreign
and military policy. He writes regularly for Inter Press Service on US
policy towards Iraq and Iran. He is the author of five books, of which
the latest is Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare.
PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay.According
to the White House, Iran is supplying arms to the Houthi rebels in
Yemen. Now joining us to discuss this is Gareth Porter. Gareth is an
investigative journalist and writes for many publications, and often
appears on The Real News.Thanks for joining us, Gareth.GARETH PORTER, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Thank you very much, Paul.JAY:
So what do you make of these reports that apparently there's an Iranian
ship on its way to Yemen, there were claims coming from the White House
and others that there was Iranian weapons for the Houthis on it. The
Iranians as far as I know denied it. What do you know about this?PORTER:
Well first of all, that whole notion that there was a flotilla of
Iranian ships on the way to Yemen to deliver arms was completely
manufactured. I mean, there's absolutely no evidence whatsoever that
those ships were on their way to Yemen, that they were supposed to
deliver anything, let alone arms to Yemen. I mean, the Iranians actually
said that the ships were there as part of a effort to suppress piracy.
Whether that was true or not I don't know, but the idea that they were
there to deliver arms is simply something that was created by the news
media without any evidence whatsoever. And--.JAY: Well, it's not just by the news media because it's coming out of the White House as well.PORTER:
Well, I--you know, the initial announcement by the Pentagon of the fact
that the Pentagon was sending another ship, the USS George Washington,
to waters offshore of Yemen was not specifically for the purpose of
intercepting arms. They did not mention the idea that there were arms on
the way to Yemen. Certainly there's been no indication that they had
any information to that effect. And what they said was that it was, in
fact, an effort to reassure. It was part of a reassurance of the Saudis
that the United States was in a position to have all the options
necessary to deal with the situation in Yemen. So it was not, in fact,
even intended or said to be intended initially and officially to
intercept arms.JAY: So you think this is more about the
Americans trying to say to the Saudis, yes we're negotiating a deal with
Iran over the nuclear program but that doesn't mean we're not in your
court if there's any actual fight with the Iranians, for example, what
people--some people are calling a proxy war in Yemen. Some people are
saying it's not.PORTER: Absolutely. There's no question in
my mind that that is the primary overwhelmingly dominant reason for the
United States to send a battleship to the waters offshore Yemen. It's
not because they believed that the Iranians were delivering arms at all.And
as I pointed out in a story that I just published yesterday, the fact
is that the Houthis don't need Iranian arms. That's the last thing on
earth that they've needed for the last several months, because they have
been awash in a whole new collection of arms that they have acquired
essentially courtesy of former president Saleh of Yemen, who has been
their primary ally in the months since they began to push into, or
toward and into, the capital of Sana'a.And that's why
they've been able to march into one Yemen military base after another
without a battle, because Saleh gave orders to the people who he still
controls, who still have control of the Yemeni military, not to resist
the Houthis because they are now the allies against the old government.
That is, the Hadi government, which basically Saleh wanted to get rid
of.JAY: I mean, one of the reports was that there's a
specific need by the Houthis for surface-to-air missiles, and that's
what Iran was sending.PORTER: That may be someone's
speculation. But the idea that the Houthis are planning to fire missiles
at Saudi aircraft and that that's part of this deal, that there's going
to be a confrontation over that, that's completely speculative. There's
absolutely no evidence for it. I've never seen anything indicating
that. I would be very surprised if the Houthis were prepared to get into
a confrontation--certainly the Iranians, prepared to get into a
confrontation over trying to send surface-to-air missiles to Yemen under
the present circumstances.JAY: Yeah, it does seem like it would not be the right time to have some confrontation with the American Navy.PORTER:
And by the way, Paul, there's another story that has been published the
last few days by Huffington Post indicating that a U.S. intelligence
official has told the Post--the Huffington Post--that U.S. intelligence
believes that Iran actually warned the Houthis against going into
Sana'a, to capture the capital. There's no details provided as to why
the Iranians were opposed to the Houthis going into Sana'a, but it would
suggest that in fact the Houthis basically now regard former president
Saleh as their main ally, as the ticket to power in Yemen, and that
Iran's ability to control the Houthis or to tell the Houthis what they
should do is clearly limited.JAY: In most of the media,
even analysts I've talked to who are very critical of the Saudis,
critical of U.S. policy, there is an assumption there that Iran is
helping the Houthis. You think there's no evidence of any kind of
support?PORTER: No, no, I'm not saying that at all. I suspect that there has been certainly advice. Some training, perhaps.JAY:
One of the reports was the Revolutionary Guard may have actual trainers
on the ground. There may be some training taking place by Hezbollah.PORTER:
That's possible that there's some people involved in training. But I
think that that needs to be distinguished from two, two points. Or two
questions. One, have the Iranians actually been providing arms to the
Houthis, and particularly over the last seven or eight months since the
Houthis entered Sana'a and took control? And secondly, are the Houthis
actually following Iranian orders? Are they proxies of the Iranians in
the sense that the Iranians are pulling the strings? And in my view the
evidence now is very strong that both of those questions have to be
answered with a negative.JAY: I mean, I think it needs to
be said it's somewhat ironic, or maybe that's not a strong enough word,
that the Saudis, who are the main people making these claims are pouring
arms into Syria and themselves intervening in Yemen. I'm not sure why
it is that the media here seems to think that's okay and somehow even if
Iran is doing this, somehow that's not okay.PORTER: Well
indeed I think one could go even beyond what you've just said, which is
entirely correct, and point out that what the Saudis are doing is
blatantly a violation of international law. I mean, there's absolutely
no legal basis for the Saudis to be carrying out a bombing operation in
Yemen. There is no government requesting that in Yemen to have the
assistance of the Saudis in carrying out a war against the Houthis.In
that sense, this is a blatant total violation of international law. And
no one seems to be pointing that out. Certainly the United States is
avoiding that question like the plague. And that certainly puts the
question of Iranian ties with the Houthis, even possible training of the
Houthis, in a slightly different perspective.JAY: All right, thanks very much for joining us, Gareth.PORTER: Thank you, Paul.JAY: And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network.
End
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