By Michelle Nichols and Jonathan Landay
NEW YORK / WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran’s support for Yemen’s Houthi movement is ‘fairly important and it is deadly’, US special envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking said on Wednesday as he fought for the hostile Marib region in Yemen calls the greatest danger to peace efforts.
Lenderking told U.S. lawmakers that Iran is supporting the Houthis in a variety of ways, including through training, lethal support and helping them “refine” their drone and missile programs.
“Unfortunately, it all works very strongly, because we are seeing more and more attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – and possibly other countries – more accuracy and more lethality. So this is a big concern for us,” Lenderking told a house said. of the hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Iran’s support for the Houthis is very important, and it is deadly,” Lenderking said.
A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Iranian Houthi group ousted the country’s government from the capital Sanaa. The Houthis have said they are fighting a corrupt system.
“We will welcome Iran as a constructive role if they are willing to do so. We have seen no indication of that,” Lenderking said.
Iran has denied supporting the Houthis. A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York dismissed Lenderking’s remarks as unfounded claims against Iran.
“Iran has repeatedly called for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Yemen,” the Iranian spokesman said. “By contrast, the U.S. has provided the deadliest weapons on a daily basis to those who use them to kill innocent men, women and children.”
US President Joe Biden said in February that Washington was ending all US support for Saudi-led offensive operations in Yemen, including arms sales.
Since taking office in January, Biden has made Yemen a priority and appointed Lenderking to help end the determined UN efforts to end a conflict widely regarded as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
“What I see is continuing to help and support an army of Houthis by the Iranians so that they can continue to attack Saudi Arabia, and unfortunately the attacks have increased quite strongly in the last few months,” Lenderking said. told a subcommittee on Senate foreign affairs on Wednesday.
The United States must “leave the matter to find a solution to the senseless conflict in the capable hands of the regional countries,” the Iranian spokesman for the UN mission said.
The fighting has escalated over the past few days as the Houthis have launched their offensive to capture Marib, which would strengthen the movement’s hand in any future political negotiations if successful.
“This insult is the biggest single threat to peace efforts and also has devastating humanitarian consequences. If we do not stop the fighting in Marib now, it will cause a wave of even greater fighting and instability,” Lenderking said.
There are about 70,000 U.S. citizens living in neighboring Saudi Arabia, Lenderking said, and “it is our greatest fear that Americans will be killed in a Houthi attack.”
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and Jonathan Landay in Washington Additional Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)