Iran Openly Says Saudi Arabia Will Not Be Able to Contain Houthi
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has openly stated that Saudi Arabia will not be able to contain the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. The warning was issued as the Iran-backed Houthis continue to intensify attacks against Riyadh in recent weeks.
“Saudi Arabia will certainly not be able to contain Yemen and Ansarullah, or avoid their attacks,” IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebi told Defa Press, as reported by AFP on Friday (21/8/2026).
“As we have witnessed in recent days, the more aggressively Saudi Arabia launches attacks, the harder the retaliatory strikes they receive,” Mohebi asserted.
Last month, Yemen became the latest front to open in the Middle East conflict that erupted on 28 February, beginning with a large-scale joint attack by the United States and Israel against Iran.
The conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which had subsided in recent years during a ceasefire, reignited in early July following the arrival of an Iranian aircraft in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. The aircraft was forced to divert its flight after the airport in the Houthi-controlled area of Sanaa was suddenly attacked by Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces. The situation then escalated into tit-for-tat attacks between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces and the Saudi-led coalition.
The Houthis also announced a maritime blockade of Saudi ports, as well as against Riyadh’s vessels in the Red Sea.
Yemen has been ravaged by war for more than a decade. The latest fighting has voided the ceasefire that had been in place since 2022 between the Houthis and the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
This week, a Yemeni minister told AFP that the Houthi rebel group plans to seize territory along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the gateway to the Red Sea. Such a move would allow the Houthis to further threaten the vital shipping lane.
Three Houthi military sources and a spokesman for Yemeni government forces also told AFP that the rebels plan to advance southwards from the areas they currently control.