Iranian officials say Houthis ‘gone rogue,’ undermining Tehran’s proxy network

Unnamed Iranian officials told The Telegraph on Tuesday that Tehran has allegedly lost much of its control over its Houthi terrorist proxy in Yemen. Tensions between the Houthis and their Iranian patron reportedly increased in April after Tehran refrained from responding during heavy American-led aerial strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Iranian official told the British news outlet that the Houthis have “gone rogue” and claimed that “they do not listen to Tehran as much as they used to.”

“It’s not just the Houthis. Some groups in Iraq are also acting as if we never had any contact with them,” the Iranian official said.

After Hezbollah and Hamas were severely degraded in the war against Israel, the Houthis emerged as the ayatollah regime’s most potent proxy in the region against the Jewish state, the Sunni Arab world and Western interests. As one of the regime’s most loyal proxies, the Houthis likely felt betrayed by Tehran’s inaction when the U.S. bombed Houthi targets. 

In an effort to mend ties with the Houthis, the Iranian regime reportedly dispatched a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Abdolreza Shahlaei last week to meet Houthi leaders in Sanaa.

The ayatollah regime has officially positioned itself and its terrorist proxy network as defenders of “Palestinian rights.” However, Iran did not send representatives to the American-brokered ceasefire talks in Egypt. Speaking off the records, Iranian officials told The Telegraph that Iran has “lost the game” in the war against the Jewish state. 

An Iranian official also expressed frustration with the growing independence of Tehran’s militia proxies in Iraq. 

“They were told several times to not even hold training sessions for a while until things calmed down, but they do not listen either.”

The Houthis have fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones against Israel since October 2023. In addition, the Houthis have attacked international commercial vessels in the critical Red Sea region. Like its patron in Tehran, the Houthis openly call for Israel’s destruction. 

In July, an unnamed Houthi official told the news outlet Ynet News that the Houthis want to eradicate Israel from the map. 

“We want only one thing from the Zionist entity: to leave the Arab land of Palestine,” the Houthi official said. He added that they “believe this is an existential struggle – faith against heresy, the oppressed against the oppressors. We will prevail. We want Israel erased and Al-Aqsa Mosque purified. This is God’s promise to His servants.”

Speaking to The Telegraph, the former Yemeni diplomat Mahmoud Sheran assessed that while there is still coordination between the Houthis and Iran, the Houthi militia is mainly driven by its own ideology and interests. 

“The Houthis don’t need someone to encourage them. This is about the Houthis’ beliefs, and they have their literature and their narratives,” Shehrah explained. 

“The Houthis are currently facing a crisis of options and priorities, pressing internal challenges, and a complex regional landscape,” a Defense Line report stated. The report added that the crisis in the Houthi camp is “essentially an extension and reflection of the confusion that exists in Tehran.”

Dr. Bader Al-Saif of the University of Kuwait told The Telegraph that the relationship between Iran and the Houthis is characterized by partly converging and partly diverging interests. 

“There is benefit for both Iran and the Houthis to work together, and they have been. But I think they also have divergent interests, and they’ll carry their own interests when they see fit, whether in Iran’s case or in the Houthi case. Think of it as a kind of franchise,” Al-Saif assessed.

In response to repeated Houthi attacks on Israel, the Israeli Air Force has conducted multiple aerial bombings of Houthi targets in Yemen. In August, Israel eliminated much of the Houthi leadership including the terror group’s prime minister, Ahmad Ghaleb al-Rahwi.