Iran has once more rejected fresh US military claims that the Houthi rebels in Yemen received weapons from Tehran, despite the fact that several Iranian vessels carrying weapons for the Houthis have been seized in the past few months.
On Thursday, the US Defense Intelligence Agency said a missile launched by Houthis towards a Norwegian-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea last December is likely to have been an Iranian-made anti-ship cruise missile.
Iran’s UN envoy on Friday denied that Iranian weapons may have been used to target commercial vessels, claiming that the Houthis have developed significant military capabilities on their own.
The Houthis began targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea after Israel began its onslaught against Gaza in response to Hamas’ attack on Israel last October. The rebel group says its only objective is to disrupt the flow of goods to and from Israeli ports. And it has to some extent succeeded at that, forcing many of the biggest logistics companies in the world to reroute.
Iran has consistently supported and praised the Houthis, but rejected claims that it has provided them with arms.
In January 2022, the French Navy intercepted an Iranian ship in the Gulf of Oman, with thousands of rifles, machine guns, and anti-tank missiles. A month later, another Iranian ship carrying ballistic missile components bound for Yemen was seized by British forces.
In late May this year, the IRGC affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that the technology for Iran's first naval ballistic missile (called Qadr) had been transferred to the Houthis. The Houthi missile "Moheet" was reportedly modeled after the Qadr.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency in its Thursday report linked Iran with the attack on the Norwegian-flagged ship, Strinda. The report seems to corroborate the findings of a Norwegian insurance company that had examined material recovered from the ship.
The Strinda, carrying a cargo of palm oil from Malaysia to the Suez Canal, was struck by a missile on December 20 last year, causing a major fire but no crew injuries. An investigation by the US military showed that parts of the missile engine found on the ship matched those of the Iranian anti-ship cruise missile, “Noor”.
The missile, developed by reverse-engineering the Chinese C-802 anti-ship missile, has a range of up to 170 kilometers, with its upgraded version, Qadr, said to be capable of reaching targets 300 kilometers away. The Houthis possess a similar missile named Mandab-2 with comparable range.