Iran is accused of criticizing Saudi Arabian military action against the Al-Houthi rebels in an attempt to increase its influence in the region.

San’a, Yemen, November 14, 2009 – Monday’s comments by Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki criticizing Saudi Arabia’s offensive on Al-Houthi rebels is raising suspicions among neighboring Arab nations.

The Foreign Minister stated Iran is willing to help with the internal security situation in Yemen, highlighting three threats he believed Yemen was facing: extremism and terrorism, the secessionist movement trying to restore the pre-1990 division of north and south Yemen and the conflict between the government and the insurgents in the north, where Al-Houthi rebels have been fighting to restore a Zaidi imamate overthrown in a 1962 coup.

Yemen and Saudi Arabia have both accused Iran of providing financial and military aid to the rebels.  

The Al-Houthi insurgents belong to the Zaidi offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, the branch of Islam followed in Iran. Sunni Muslims are concerned Iran will use the Al-Houthi rebels to increase its influence in the region, and that the insurgency will be used to play on wider sectarian tensions.

 “The Saudis are Wahabi, they hate Shi’ites and they don’t want Shi’ites on their borders close to Saudi Arabia,” Mohammed bin Sallam, Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent with the Yemen Times told The Media Line.

 “Saudi Arabia is trying to push the rebels at least ten kilometers from the border,” he said regarding the recent Saudi air and artillery bombardment of Al-Houthi rebels who were pushed into Saudi territory by Yemeni government forces.

 “There is an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Yemen to fight the Al-Houthis,” Sallam said. “Saudi is worried the Shiites, with help from Iran, might create problems in the south of Saudi Arabia.”

The official Yemeni news agency SABA is reporting that Yemen has signed a military and security cooperation agreement with the United States.

According to the agency, talks at the Armed Forces Officers’ club in Sanaa lasted two days and were attended by the Yemeni Chief of Staff, Major General Ahmed Ali Al Ashwal and the U.S. Director of Planning of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brigadier General Jeffery Smith.

The deal reportedly includes the exchange of information, training and experience between the two armed forces.

The U.S. Embassy in Sana’a could not be reached for comment.

Source: The Media Line, November 12, 2009

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