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The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement has not yet entered the conflict on Iran’s side, but has stepped up its rhetoric in support of Tehran in recent days, with its leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi declaring that he is prepared to enter war against the US and Israel if necessary.
“With regard to military escalation and actions, our fingers are on the trigger, ready to respond at any moment according to developments,” al-Houthi said on Thursday.
“The reason the Houthis have not intervened is because they are the last line of resistance to the axis. Especially after other members of the axis have been humiliated,” Nadwa al-Dawsari, a Yemen expert and associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital.
Thousands of people gather at Sabine Square, under the control of Tehran-backed Houthis, to protest the assassination of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Sanaa, Yemen on March 06, 2026. (Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The official slogan of the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) reads, “Allah is great. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam.”
Al-Dawsari, who has written extensively about Yemen and the Houthis, said: “I think the Houthis will intervene at some point. The longer the war continues, the more likely it is that the Houthis will intervene. I think what the Houthis want to do – and they have been willing to do for some time – is to attack the Saudis. If the Saudis intervene, the Houthis will find a reason to attack the Saudis.”
Hegseth attacked Britain, saying Iran’s chaotic retaliation had pushed its own allies into the American orbit.
Houthi militants wave British and American flags at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, near Sanaa, Yemen, on February 4, 2024. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
The Islamic Republic of Iran formed the “Axis of Resistance” ahead of Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Iran’s Axis coalition of Shia and Sunni militant proxies includes Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis, Shia militias in Iraq, and the now-defunct Ba’athist regime in Syria.
Within the first few weeks of his administration, President Joe Biden initiated a reset with the Houthis and pressured the Saudis to end the war against the aggressive Houthi movement. In his first major foreign policy speech about the Middle East in February 2021, Biden declared, “The war in Yemen must end.”
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Smoke above Tehran, Iran after reported explosions on March 2, 2026. (Contributor/Getty Images)
As well as Biden’s reversal of US support for Saudi-led allies in the war against the Houthis, his administration delisted the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. President Donald Trump swiftly reimposed the terrorist designation for the Houthis at the start of his second term and launched military strikes against the militants in Yemen.
Al-Dawsari said another reason the Houthis have not yet joined the conflict is that it is not in the interests of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to drag the Houthis into a suicidal war. He argues, “If the Iranian regime collapses, and if a new regime emerges, I think the IRGC will regroup in Yemen or Somalia. Yemen is the key ally.”
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There have been discussions between the IRGC and the Houthis on why the continued existence of the Houthis is of strategic importance to the IRGC, he said.
Al-Dawsari further said, “The IRGC cannot afford to lose the Houthis. Yemen is very important to them. They need to preserve the Houthis for tomorrow in order for the IRGC to continue after the regime.”
This handout screen grab captured from a video shows the takeover of the Galaxy Leader cargo by Yemen’s Houthi fighters off Yemen’s Red Sea coast on November 20, 2023. (Houthi Movement via Getty Images)
He said that “The Houthis have established themselves in the Horn of Africa. The IRGC is behind the Houthis. Intervention by the Houthis could be symbolic.” He further said that Iran’s “strategy now is to prolong the war and spread it across the region and put more pressure on America.”
In May 2025, Trump announced that the US would halt its aerial bombing campaign against the Houthis because, he said, the Houthis “don’t want to fight.”
“They don’t want that and we will respect that. We will stop the bombing,” Trump said. The Houthis had launched attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, as well as the Jewish state, to support their ally Hamas in Gaza.
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Al-Dawsari said the Houthis did not attack American ships after Trump’s announcement. “They know Trump doesn’t take jokes. They know they have to face consequences.”
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