NEWS AND ANALYSIS:
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the shock troops for the theocratic regime in Tehran, have supplied missiles and one-way attack drones to the Houthis in Yemen who are carrying out strikes on global shipping in the Red Sea and other targets in the Middle East, the Defense Intelligence Agency revealed in a report made public this month.
The corps’ Quds Force has since 2014 “provided the Houthis a growing arsenal of sophisticated weapons and training that they have used to attack commercial shipping in the Red Sea and civilian port and energy infrastructure across the region,” the 28-page intelligence report stated.
Iran views the Houthis as proxies helping to extend Tehran’s regional power. “Tehran’s weapons proliferation illustrate how Iran views the Houthis as integral to its own efforts to project power and destabilize the region,” the report said.
Between 2015 and 2023, the U.S. and its allies stopped at least 18 Iranian smuggling vessels and seized ballistic missile parts, unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-tank missiles, rocket parts, thousands of automatic weapons and other weapons destined for the Houthis.
The U.S. military has in recent weeks launched airstrikes against Houthi weapons sites following the rebel group’s attacks on shipping. The Houthis assert their attacks are in solidarity with the war being waged by Hamas militants against Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Houthi attacks are launched from sites in Yemen, on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and extend hundreds of miles in different directions.
DIA analysts said the missile targets include international commercial ships transiting the Red Sea, such as the Norwegian-flagged merchant ship Strinda, which was hit by a Houthi cruise missile in December. An Aramco oil silo in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was also attacked by Houthi missiles in November 2020, briefly crippling Saudi production.
Missile components are shipped from Iran to Yemen, and once inside Houthi-controlled areas, the weapons are assembled, modified and repainted with Houthi names, the report said. Much of the intelligence on both Iran-supplied missiles and drones was revealed in images taken of Houthi parades and posted on YouTube in videos by the group.
In addition to missiles, Iran has supplied advanced unmanned aerial vehicles to several conflict zones.
The military drones “combine an extended-range, low-cost and explosive payload to allow conflict actors such as the Houthis, other Iran-aligned militias and Russia to threaten territorial sovereignty, regional stability, and the global economy,” the report said.
The DIA report said a key Iranian weapon sent to the Houthis and other regional allied groups in the Middle East was the Shahed-136 drone, which has an estimated range of 1,500 miles and an explosive warhead weighing 110 pounds. The Houthi version of the drone is called the Waid 2.
U.S. defense officials said an Iranian Shahed one-way attack drone was used in the Jan. 28 attack on a U.S. military supply base in Jordan that killed three American troops. That attack set in motion a series of American counterstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and on Iranian-aligned militias in Iraq and Syria, including a drone strike that killed the Iraqi leader of a pro-Iran militia on Feb. 7 in Baghdad. The U.S. Central Command said the militia leader was linked to the deadly Jordan base attack.
Other drones from Iran identified by the DIA include the 1,000-mile-range Samad, which appears to be a Houthi version of Iran’s Sayad drone, also called the KAS-04. Another Iranian drone shown by the Houthis is the Waid 1, which the DIA report said is a version of Iran’s Shahed 131 UAV. The Waid 1 has a range of 559 miles and is armed with a 55-pound warhead.
Iranian missiles supplied to the Houthis include the Burkan-3, with a range of 745 miles and warhead weighing 551 pounds, and the longer-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile. The Houthis have renamed the Shahab-3, calling it Toofan. The medium-range missile has a range of 1,149 miles and carries a 1,763-pound warhead.
Another medium-range missile supplied by Iran to the Yemeni rebels is the Kheibar Shekan, which the rebel group calls the Hatem. The missile has a range of 900 miles with a 1,102-pound warhead. Iran has fired the missile against ISIS targets in Iraq in January. The Houthis have yet to launch one of their missiles in this class, DIA analysts said.
Anti-ship cruise missiles used by the Houthis against ships in the Gulf of Oman and Red Sea included a version of Iran’s Khalij Fars. The missile has a range of 248 miles with a 1,102-pound warhead. A land-attack cruise missile also was sent from Iran to the Houthis called Quds-4 with a range of 1,242 miles. The DIA believes the missile is a version of Iran’s Paveh land attack cruise missile.
Last, the Iranians supplied the Houthis with surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles known as the Saqr with a range of up to 93 miles. The missile is nearly identical to the Iranian 358 surface-to-air missile.
U.S. Embassy in Baghdad urges proper use of pronouns
Amid talks on withdrawing an estimated 2,500 troops from Iraq, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is taking the time to warn American personnel in the country to use the proper pronouns under the Biden administration’s promotion of gender ideology. A leaked cable dated Feb. 8 and posted on X instructs “colleagues” in Iraq to observe “gender identity best practices.”
“Mission Iraq’s [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility] Committee would like to call attention to the [State] Department’s cable below on gender identity best practices,” the cable said, citing the March 2023 guidance from the Office of Personnel Management on gender identity and “inclusion” in the federal workplace.
“This cable aims to increase understanding of gender identity and provide guidance on gender identity language and best practices that support an inclusive work environment,” the guidance states. “Proper pronoun and honorific usage is an inclusive practice that conveys respect and signals a safe environment for transgender and/or non-binary colleagues. Treating colleagues, family members, and visitors with dignity and respect by referring to them by their preferred name and pronouns shows our agility, adaptability and ability to conduct diplomacy in different contexts.”
A State Department spokesman declined to comment on the cable.
Following U.S. military strikes on Iraq and Syria and a drone attack last month that killed an Iranian-allied militia leader, the Iraqi government is seeking the removal of American troops from Iraq deployed to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State terrorists. Talks on a withdrawal were held in Baghdad; the Pentagon has said it is opposed to a troop withdrawal but would follow whatever decisions are made by the Iraqi government.
The Heritage Foundation has warned in several reports and commentaries that the Biden administration is trying to impose its gender ideology on Americans in a way that threatens civil liberties.
“Americans face growing pressure in education, culture and the marketplace to embrace radical ideologies that deny the truth of natural marriage and the reality of biological sex,” the think tank said. “The infusion of gender ideology into foreign policy and international affairs is both inappropriate and dangerous, promoting notions antagonistic to traditional concepts of marriage, family, and sex, threatening to erode hard-won civil liberties and national sovereignty, and threatening mental and physical harm to children and young adults. No responsible government should advocate for these policies.”
Report examines China’s communist system
The Congressional Research Service published a report Jan. 29 outlining the characteristics of China’s Marxist-Leninist system of governance.
As Congress intensifies a focus on China and the strategic competition between Washington and Beijing, members of Congress are increasing legislation and oversight targeting China’s government.
The CRS report seeks to provide members with a clear understanding of the Chinese system, noting that China is the sole Communist Party-led state among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, and among members of the G20 grouping of major economies.
China “is both a nation-state and a Leninist ‘party-state,’” the report said. The Chinese Communist Party “is China’s dominant political institution. It operates a powerful and expansive bureaucracy and tasks itself with ‘exercis[ing] overall leadership over all areas of endeavor in every part of the country.’”
The party’s reach extends to the level of small towns where every party leader outranks the government official in charge.
Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping is the overall leader of the party-state and also the Central Military Commission that “oversees the party’s armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).”
“The PLA formally and explicitly serves the party, not the nation,” the report stated.
Despite his recognition as president overseas, Mr. Xi as head of state “officially has a minor role in the operations of the PRC government,” the report said, using the abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China.
The Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949 and has now been in power for 74 years. The party claims 98 million members. or nearly 7% of the population.
• Contact Bill Gertz on X @BillGertz.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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