What Is Iran's Objective Of Ballistic Missile Attacks By Its Yemeni Houthi Militias Against Saudi Arabia?
31 December 2017Heshmat Alavi, Forbes
What is the objective behind the recent surge of ballistic missile attacks
staged by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias against Saudi Arabia?
With the Saudi-led coalition retaking 85% of the country from the Houthis,
Tehran understands fully its Yemen campaign is coming to a dismal end. All the
while, the Iranian regime faces increasing mayday scenarios domestically and
abroad.
Iran is a regime established on crises: Unable to resolve one or a number of
dilemmas, or anticipating others in the making, Tehran resorts to launching
new turmoil.
The mentality of this regime, and its four decades of unjustified rule, has
resulted in the status quo of constantly choosing between bad and worse.
Following similar ballistic missile launches on Nov. 4th and 30th, the Houthis
on Tuesday resorted to yet another such attack resulting in the Saudi air
defense downing the projectile northeast of Riyadh, located 850 kilometers
from Houthi controlled areas of Yemen.
Condemning the attack 'enabled by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps,' President Donald Trump in his Wednesday phone call with Saudi King
Salman 'discussed the importance of engaging the United Nations to hold Iran
accountable for its repeated violations of international law,' according to a
White House readout.
This measure can be weighed as in response to an unprecedented press
conference held by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, displaying
remnants of various military equipment, including parts of a ballistic
missile, an unmanned aerial vehicle and an anti-tank guided missile, all made
in Iran and provided to the Houthis of Yemen.
Ambassador Haley also described Tuesday's missile attack by the Houthis as
bearing the hallmarks of a weapon provided by Iran.
At the same UN Security Council meeting, UN political chief Jeffrey Feltman
said:
"… the two missiles launched at the Saudi cities of Yanbu and Riyadh had
similar features which suggested a common origin, and are consistent with
missiles of the Scud family and had features known to be consistent with
[Iran's] Qiam-1 missile."
"One of the missiles bore castings similar to that of an Iranian entity on the
list maintained pursuant to resolution 2231, he added.
"In terms of restrictions on arms-related transfers, the Secretariat is
confident that close to 900 of the assault rifles seized by the United States
in March 2016 are identical to those seized by France also in the same month,
which the Secretariat had assessed were of Iranian origin and shipped from
Iran, Mr. Feltman said.
"The Secretariat is also confident that half of the 200 rocket propelled
grenade launchers had characteristics similar to Iranian-produced RPG
launchers.
"Further, the Secretariat had received information on an unmanned surface
vessel (USV) laden with explosives allegedly used against the Saudi-led
coalition and had the opportunity to examine parts of its guidance and
detonation systems, which included a computer terminal with a dual
English/Farsi keyboard and characteristics similar to those of
Iranian-produced terminals.
"The Secretariat was also requested to examine two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),
reportedly recovered in Yemen after Implementation Day. One of the UAVs -
which Saudi authorities ascertain was similar to that of the Iranian-made
Ababil-II - is similar to other drones reportedly seized in Yemen brought to
our attention by the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Feltman said."
To add insult to injury for Tehran, Ambassador Haley argued the new U.N.
Secretary General report provides basis for new pressure on Tehran's ongoing
behavior, such as a new resolution or strengthening already existing measures.
Almost simultaneously, the UN General Assembly adopted a Canada-sponsored
resolution condemning Iran's human rights violations for the 64th time,
expressing:
"...serious concern at the alarmingly high frequency of the imposition and
carrying-out of the death penalty... including the imposition of the death
penalty against minors and persons who at the time of their offence were under
the age of 18, and executions undertaken for crimes that do not qualify as the
most serious crimes, on the basis of forced confessions."
The UN resolution calls on Iran "to abolish, in law and in practice, public
executions."
Today, the international community called on #Iran to respect #humanrights,
through a Canada-led resolution adopted by the @UN General Assembly. Canada
will continue to advocate for respect for human rights in Iran.
The onslaught of crises troubling Iran includes a very dangerous row between
former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - once considered a very close confidant
of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei - and the judiciary, another entity considered
tightly under Khamenei's influence.
During May's presidential elections Ahmadinejad refused to bow to Khamenei's
recommendation to refrain from participating, sparking a significant dispute
among the hardliners and rocking the boat in Iran's highly turmoil seas of
domestic politics.
The judiciary recently threatened to accuse Ahmadinejad of "sedition" and
supporting Babak Zanjani, an oil-tycoon known to have stolen billions of
dollars' worth of revenue and reportedly enjoying extensive ties with senior
regime officials.
Considering the increasing foreign calamities Khamenei's apparatus faces on a
daily scale, such internal rifts couldn't have arrived at a worse timing.
U.S. President Donald Trump's inaugural national security strategy describes
Iran as a "rogue state" and a principal challenger to U.S. interests in the
Middle East. While the text blasts former president Barack Obama for sealing a
"disastrous, weak, and incomprehensibly bad deal with Iran," a recent
bombshell published by Politico unveiled how the Obama administration
literally protected a $1 billion Hezbollah-led drug trafficking network to
maintain Iran in line with an already controversial nuclear pact.
Hezbollah is a terrorist designated group launched by Iran in Lebanon in the
early 1980s.
To confront all these crunches, Iran has no solutions other than resorting to
an old tactic of creating new mayhem to robe previous others. This behavior
would seem illogical for a stereotype government, but Iran is anything but a
normal or stereotype government.
For example, in the year 2000, after enduring Mohammad Khatami - now under
house arrest - as president of his regime for four years, Khamenei had no
choice but to pave the path for his second term.
Yet to coat such a setback, Khamenei ordered a major missile attack against
the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK),
then stationed in a series of bases aligning the Iran-Iraq border. While the
PMOI initially reported 77 missiles targeted their bases, years later former
IRGC chief Rahim Safavi said the avalanche consisted of 1,000 long and
medium-range fired from Iran into Iraqi soil.
The bottom line is that Iran is facing major domestic and foreign dilemmas, to
say the least, and its tactic is to screen one impasse through creating yet
another. This is no regime to arrange deals and agreements with, and this is
no time to decrease any pressure on Iran.
The international community must adopt a firm policy to force Tehran into
relinquishing such a slate of belligerence, including its ballistic missile
program, support for terrorism and proxy groups, and human rights violations
at home.
Otherwise, rest assured this regime will mushroom newer and more serious
calamities across the board.
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