Iran’s Houthis Penetrate Israeli Air Defenses With Cruise Missile

Reacting to a UN Security Council briefing on the Yemen crisis, Amir Saeid Iravani dismissed statements made by the US and UK as "baseless allegations”.

Since November, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They proclaim that these attacks will persist until Israel halts its operations in Gaza. The attacks began after Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on Muslims to blockade Israel.

In response, the US and UK have carried out several rounds of strikes against an array of Houthi targets in Yemen.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran categorically rejects these baseless allegations, considering them as a pretext utilized by the United States and the United Kingdom to advance their short-sighted political agenda as well as to justify and validate their ongoing unlawful actions and military aggression against Yemen,” the Iranian envoy said in a letter to the president of the UN security council.

While Iran’s military support for the Houthi rebels goes back to at least 2009, Tehran often claims it merely offers political support to the group.

As experts note, the growing Houthi-Iran “integration” has allowed the Houthis to turn from a local guerrilla group to a more sophisticated armed force able to strike ground and maritime targets throughout the region.

Early this year, American forces intercepted an Iranian shipment, carrying military aid to the Houthis – including drone parts, missile warheads, and anti-tank missile units.

UK, US call for UN action on Iran's Yemen missiles

During the security council meeting, the US and UK urged UN intervention through its maritime inspectorate to prevent more Iranian missiles from reaching Houthi-controlled ports in western Yemen.

Reports of Iranian ships circumventing these inspections are therefore extremely concerning. The UK calls on Iran to cease its unlawful support for the Houthis. All ships entering Hudaydah must comply and report to UNVIM for inspection,” James Kariuki, the UK ambassador to the UN said.

Originally established in 2016, the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) is a framework established to inspect commercial shipping bound for Yemen, aiming to prevent the smuggling of weapons and illicit goods into the country.

During the briefing, a missile reportedly launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia struck a vessel near the southern city of Aden, resulting in no damage. Concurrently, US forces launched missiles at Hodeidah international airport.

Meanwhile, Chinese and Russian envoys argued that the US and UK lacked UN authorization for their repeated attacks on Houthi missile sites.

The urgency of the talks surged following a weekend directive instructing US forces to leave the country.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, currently navigating international waters in the Philippines, highlighted American apprehensions regarding Niger's stance while emphasizing ongoing dialogues with the country's leadership.

"In terms of Niger, we made clear... that we had a number of very real concerns... We remain in touch with the CNSP (National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland) and we're discussing with them a path forward," Blinken asserted.

Niger's decision to terminate its counterterrorism pact with the US reverberated globally as suspicions of clandestine dealings with Iran regarding access to uranium reserves surfaced. Recent intelligence underscores Niger's junta engaging in advanced discussions with Iran, sparking concerns over potential disruptions to international security dynamics.

The cessation of military cooperation dealt a significant setback to the Biden administration's initiatives in the Sahel region. Just last week, a US delegation, comprising prominent figures such as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee and Gen. Michael Langley of US Africa Command, convened with Niger's military junta in a bid to salvage relations.

Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon's deputy press secretary, divulged that discussions were driven not solely by worries about Niger's entanglements with Iran but also by suspicions of potential ties to Russia. The intricate geopolitical landscape illuminates the formidable challenges confronting US endeavors to counter Islamist insurgency in the region.

Alireza Tangsiri stated, "If our oil and tankers are seized anywhere in the world, we will respond in kind." He added that the era of “foreign exploitation of Iranian resources with impunity has come to an end.”

Tangsiri's remarks come in response to recent events including the seizure of more than 520,000 barrels of Iran's oil aboard the crude tanker Abyss by the US Department of Justice. The tanker was reportedly anchored in the Yellow Sea between China and South Korea, violating US sanctions.

The US government says that Iran channels revenues from oil sales to finance various groups, including Yemen's Houthi rebels and organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Iran's crude exports and oil output surged to new highs in 2023 despite US sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program, which Iran insists is for peaceful purposes. However, tensions escalated further in January when Iran withheld shipments and demanded higher prices from its top client, China, tightening the supply for the world's biggest crude importer. Iranian oil accounts for approximately 10% of China's crude imports.

Last week, Abram Paley, a special envoy on Iran from the US State Department urged Panama to prohibit sanctioned Iranian ships from flying its flag. Panama's maritime authority refuted the claims of Iranian-owned vessels in its registry, however, following concerns raised by US authorities.

Panama's maritime authority revealed that it had delisted 136 vessels associated with Iran's state oil company over the previous four years.

Sydney-based Iranian Arash Behgoo has been denied access to government records after lodging a Freedom of Information request with the Attorney-General’s Department in June last year, seeking explanation as to why the IRGC was not banned under a motion in January last year when lawmakers were extremely close to proscribing the group.

The country's Senate claimed at the time that “as an organ of a nation state, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not the kind of entity that is covered by the terrorist organisation provisions in the Criminal Code.” It also claimed that the IRGC could not be listed for legislative reasons because of its status as an organ of the nation state.

Initially, in August, Behgoo’s request was denied on grounds of “national security, defence or international relations”, a common obstacle to understanding the mechanics of issues such as designation amid the extreme complexities of geopolitics.

However, Behgoo said Australians deserved to know the threat they were facing. “Many of my fellow Australians may not know about this organization and it’s my duty, for the sake of our national security, to talk about the risk that I know of,” he said.

“I consider it my duty to my home to talk about it and to inform others that without a listing under the Criminal Code, the agents of the IRGC can roam freely in Australia and pretty much do whatever they want and they wouldn’t be committing criminal offences.”

The Iranian who moved to Sydney with his family five years ago, says he is now considering appealing the decision. “It is not just a bunch of fanatics who have wild ideas – they do things and you can see it all over the world,” Behgoo told Sky News.

“You can ignore them, but they won’t ignore you. We can and we must list them on our Criminal Code and make sure that we do a great job of enforcing our law because those who neglected this risk, you can see what has become of them.”

A spokesperson for the Attorney-General's department told Sky News that it has been long-standing practice that "the department does not comment on whether an organisation is being, or has been, considered for listing as a terrorist organisation."

Lawmakers meanwhile are campaigning for change. “The government is making excuses and is not being upfront about the reasons that it hasn't listed the IRGC as a terrorist organisation,” Senator Claire Chandler told Sky News.

She has long rallied for designation, highlighting the disruptive nature of the IRGC abroad including the recent hostilities in the Middle East, sparked by the Iran-backed Hamas attack on Israel, and subsequently followed by action in support of Hamas by Iran's proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

“It is, frankly, disgraceful that the government won't provide them on a confidential basis to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. This is a committee that is designed to be able to see this information and have that layer of transparency and accountability over government decision-making in the most sensitive of areas.”

The IRGC was listed back in 2018 by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and in 2019, by the US. The Australian committee, formed in the wake of the brutal 2022 crackdowns on protesters, has seen several sanctions imposed on both individuals and entities but as yet, the government, like those in countries such as the UK and Canada, has abstained from designation.

Hopes to revive the collapsed JCPOA nuclear deal appear to remain a barrier to progress, with several Western governments hoping to revive talks. Conversely, Iran has only enhanced its Uranian enrichment and escalated its brutal crackdown on dissent, with record numbers of executions last year, exceeding 800.

“I suspect that that is one of the reasons that this government in Australia hasn't listed the IRGC because they think it will be problematic in terms of any relationship that Australia tries to manage with Iran,” Senator Chandler told Sky News.

But she warned: “We know that the IRI [Islamic Republic of Iran] regime are not good faith actors. They are not a good government that Australia should be dealing with on a regular basis. They are a regime that we should be minimizing our relationship with to the greatest extent possible.”

Of most concern, she says, is the risk of attacks on Australian soil. Attacks by the IRGC and its proxies have been planned and foiled against Jewish and Israeli targets across the world from South America to Europe, in addition to dozens more against Iranian dissidents abroad, including reporters from Iran International.

Last year, the UK’s top intelligence chief said Iran was among the UK’s biggest threats with multiple attacks foiled on British soil. In Israel, Mossad’s head said they too had worked with foreign intelligence agencies to foil dozens of attacks abroad. Iran continues to openly threaten members of the Trump administration for the assassination of Qods Force commander, Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

In Australia, the threats have been no less apparent. In spite of Iranian denials, the Australian government admits it is “concerned” by Iran’s ongoing espionage activities.

A spokeswoman for Australia’s Home Affairs Department told Iran International in January: “Last year, the Australian Government made it clear that it is concerned by reports of harassment and monitoring of people in Australia by foreign governments, including Iran.”

In January, The Australian Financial Review published an interview with the Islamic Republic’s Ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, during which he rejected claims by Australia's Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil that the Iranian government had been spying on dissidents in Australia, insisting they were safe from harm or kidnapping.

However, last year, O’Neil revealed that Australia had disrupted the activities of suspected Iranian intelligence who had conducted surveillance of the home of an Iranian-Australian dissident, as well as their family, part of a wider global crackdown in the wake of the 2022 uprising.

"I just want to step back and say this again: we have here someone living in our country who is being followed, watched, photographing their home invaded by people at the direction of a foreign power. This is happening in Australia, and this is something ASIO was onto like a shot," O'Neil said last year.

And now, the concerns remain. “Australians should be very concerned that our current government is not willing to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation,” Senator Chandler said.

“We know that this is the entity that is causing significant violence and significant terror in the Middle East right now and we also know that the IRI regime has undertaken foreign interference activities in this country here in Australia and there are questions to be asked about the influence of the IRGC on our own soil.”

Syrian air defenses intercepted some of the Israeli missiles, the ministry claimed in a statement, resulting in what it called "material damage," A security source, speaking to Saudi media, revealed that the strike targeted a military base used by Syrian forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The source claimed the attack was on a base used jointly by the military and Hezbollah, warning that Damascus provides the Iran-backed group with arms to use against Israel.

The security source emphasized, "Continued arms smuggling from Syria will increase Israeli strikes on the military stores and the continued Syrian support of Hezbollah and Iran, will prevent it from achieving stability and the Syrian people will pay the price."

The previous strike, late on Monday, targeted Hezbollah sites around Damascus, reportedly hitting ammunition supplies and causing explosions in the area.

Iran's substantial backing of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria's nearly 12-year-old conflict has led to Israel conducting regular air strikes to curb Tehran's extraterritorial military power, especially its support for Hezbollah.

The recent escalation in Israeli strikes on Syria follows heightened regional tensions since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. More than half a dozen Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers have been killed in suspected Israeli strikes on Syria since December, reflecting the intensifying conflict dynamics. Israel continues to remain silent on the attacks.

Consequently, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has scaled back the deployment of its senior officers in Syria and planned to rely more on allied Shi'ite militia to maintain influence there, as reported by Reuters in February.