In comments made to al-Hayat newspaper, President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi called on Iran to end its incessant meddling within Yemen’s internal affairs, decrying the instability such political interventionism had had on the impoverished nation at such a particular juncture in its history.
While President Hadi is no stranger to polemic when it comes to Iran, having often and quite openly accused Tehran of interfering by supporting dissident factions as to promote its own agenda in the region, using Yemen as a proxy, the president’s latest comments will undoubtedly further stiffen diplomatic relations and generate political tensions.
"Unfortunately, Iranian interference still exists, whether through its support for the Herak separatists (southern secessionist movement) or some religious groups in northern Yemen," President Hadi told al-Hayat. Ever since 2011 uprising, politicians and analysts have accused Iran of playing into Yemen’s political instability by supporting both the southern insurgency movement and the Houthis (Shiite group based in northern Sa’ada) in order to gain a footing onto the country’s political scene.
Key to the region’ s geo-political stability, Yemen has been by Iran as a mean to an end in its battle for control against Saudi Arabia, hence Tehran’s dedication to supporting whoever opposes or wishes to break away from KSA’ shadow.
President Hadi went on saying, "We asked our Iranian brothers to revise their wrong policies towards Yemen, but our demands have not borne fruit. We have no desire to escalate (the situation) with Tehran but at the same time we hope it will lift its hand off Yemen.”
It is important to note that if Yemen has failed to take action on the ground against the Houthis, a group led by Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, after Saudi Arabia branded it a terror organization earlier in March, President Hadi’s comments against Iran could hint Yemen will consider aligning its terror policy on that of Saudi Arabia should the need arise.