Yemen’s Foreign Minister, Khalid Al-Yamani, has warned of the formation of a new Hezbollah organization in Yemen, which he said would threaten the security and stability of the region.
Al-Yamani made the comments during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, Matthew H. Tueller, on Thursday in the Saudi capital Riyadh. The Foreign Minister said that the Yemeni government was alarmed by Iran’s “intervention and its absurd agenda” in the Middle East, as well as Tehran’s interference in Yemen’s civil war on behalf of the Houthi rebels.
Speaking at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) think tank in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, the US Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Sigal Mandelker, condemned Iran’s role in Yemen.
“Iran’s central bank governor, other Central Bank of Iran officials and the Quds force team up to (…) move funds on behalf of Quds and Hezbollah,” she said, adding that in Yemen, besides sending ballistic missiles to the Houthis, Quds printed “counterfeit Yemeni bank notes, potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to support Iran’s destabilizing activities.”
Mandelker added that “Iran continues to supply the Huthis in Yemen with ballistic missiles that they launch at civilian population centers in Saudi Arabia,” and pointed to a UN Panel from a few months ago, which concluded that military equipment used by the Shiite rebel group originated in Iran.
“These Iranian officials have also disrupted humanitarian aid efforts in Yemen, and threatened freedom of navigation in key regional waterways,” she charged.
During the meeting in Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s Foreign Minister reiterated his government’s position that supports the American stance toward the Iranian regime and stressed that cooperation is imperative to prevent attempts seeking to establish a new Hezbollah in the country.
The American ambassador, meanwhile, reaffirmed America’s support for the Yemeni government and vowed to work alongside them and the Saudi-led coalition to achieve the common goal of curbing Iran’s influence in Yemen and reinstate the legitimate government.
[Photo: Associated Press / YouTube ]