Rejecting the armistice and threatening the oil sources in the Gulf... A Houthi gamble with Yemenis serving Iran
English - Wednesday 05 October 2022 الساعة 03:57 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, NewsYemen:
The recent position of the Houthi group, Iran's arm in Yemen, rejecting the UN proposal to extend the armistice for an additional six months, reminded us of the enormity of the subversive role played by the group in Yemen to serve Iranian interests.
Contrary to what was expected, the group’s rejection of the proposal to extend the armistice submitted by the UN envoy was surprising, given that the proposal meets most of the group’s demands, on top of which is the inclusion of the clause of paying employees’ salaries in its areas of control within the armistice clauses based on prior understandings between America and the Sultanate of Oman and with the approval of the group.
These understandings prompted the US envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, after his latest tour in the region late last month, to say that he found support from all his counterparts in the region for an expanded armistice agreement that includes paying civil servants’ salaries, improving freedom of movement by opening roads, and transporting fuel quickly through ports, expansion of commercial flights from Sanaa airport.
Al-Houthi's refusal was explosive to all these efforts, which explains the unprecedented wave of condemnations against Al-Houthi's position on the most prominent international powers, led by America, Britain and the European Union. It was noteworthy that the clear condemnation by the group of threats launched by the group immediately after the failure of the extension of the truce targeting oil companies operating in the Gulf countries.
Observers believe that the international anger, especially the American one, against the Houthi position and its threats, as a clear message of blackmail by Iran in response to the negotiations that have been going on for more than a year to return the nuclear agreement to a dead end.
America and European countries have been living since the beginning of this year in an unprecedented state of inflation due to the energy price crisis and their sharp rise as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and any attacks that might affect the oil sector in the Persian Gulf will increase this crisis, which Iran sees as an opportunity to achieve political gains in its favour.
Iran's need to move the Houthi card to blackmail the West is not limited to the nuclear file, but rather sees it as an urgent necessity for it at the present time to stop the wave of protests taking place in the country's cities and accusing the West of being behind it.
Three weeks ago, Iran has witnessed an unprecedented wave of protests and public anger in most of its cities over the death of a young Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by the security for allegedly violating the rules of the hijab.
All attempts of the Iranian regime to quell these protests failed, despite the killing of about 100 demonstrators and the arrest of hundreds of them, while reports indicate that this wave of protests included for the first time areas considered strongholds of the loyalists of the Wilayat al-Faqih regime in the capital, Tehran and other cities, in a dangerous indicator that threatens future and survival of this system.
This threat facing the Iranian regime pushes it - according to observers - to try to divert attention from what is happening inside by moving its arms to ignite a focus of violence in the region, and here the Houthi group emerges as the easiest and cheapest of these arms to perform this role by blowing up efforts to extend the armistice and threatening to strike oil companies in the Gulf countries.
