Thursday , 28 March 2024

Why is Iran and its media ignoring latest developments in Yemen?

Al-Arabia – Usually the Iranian media compete to broadcast news of Houthi infiltrations against the Yemeni people or the Arab countries, starting from besieging Yemeni cities and starving people there, to the launch of Iranian-made ballistic missiles against Saudi Arabia. But with the latest developments during the past 24 hours in Sanaa, the media and its officials are keeping silent, specially after residents of the Yemeni capital refused to obey the Houthis’ orders in an incident described as cleansing of the first Arab capital occupied by Iranian militias since 2014.


The front pages of Fars News and Tasnim, the two agencies close to Ali Khamenei and Iran’s security, did not mention anything about Yemen, unlike the mainstream news coverage among all the important international news agencies. This contradicts with the practice by these two agencies, which tried to turn the focus away from the Yemeni developments.

Probably the only Iranian comment about the Yemen was when Amir Abdullahian, special adviser to the President of the Iranian parliament for international affairs, announced that his country supports the Houthi militias, saying: “Supporters of Allah and their allies are an important and influential part of the opposition and in the political solution.”

Sanaa fighting
Two days ago, forces loyal to the former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh fought with the Houthis in a number of streets in Sanaa, as a step to put an end to the Houthi alliance with his party, in a confrontation with the internationally recognized government and its supporting countries.

Tasnim and Fars News, the two agencies closely tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, did not report any news about Yemen. They did not even publish the latest response by Abdullahian to the incidents in Sanaa, which analysts describe as the end of the Iranian project in Yemen.

The Iranian government, led by Hassan Rouhani, did not offer any official response regarding the latest developments in Yemen, while Tasnim agency published a recent speech by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei requesting the leaders of the Revolutionary Guards to strengthen their military capabilities in order to “protect the people to be able to face hostilities.”

Last Update: Sunday, 3 December 2017 KSA 22:12 – GMT 19:12

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