Published January 17, 2024
The “supreme leader” of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, effusively celebrated the terrorist Houthi organization of Yemen on Tuesday for its ongoing attacks on commercial shipping transiting through the Red Sea, crediting it with hurting “the vital channels of the Zionist regime.”
The Houthis — a Shiite jihadist group bankrolled by Iran — declared war on Israel in October to support Hamas in the aftermath of its murder, gang-rape, torture, and abduction rampage against Israel on October 7. As part of that war, the group announced it would attack commercial ships with ties to Israel but has instead targeted unrelated commercial ships, as well as American and other Western assets.
The Houthi campaign against international commerce has prompted some of the largest shipping companies in the world to avoid the Red Sea and Suez Canal entirely, rerouting around the southern tip of Africa – a far more expensive and time-consuming voyage. The Financial Times documented a 90-percent drop in ship traffic between January 2023 and January 2024 as of January 10. As a result, shipping costs have risen rapidly and are expected to affect the cost of goods around the world.
Houthi forces board the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on November 19, 2023, in the Red Sea. (Houthi Media Center via AP)
The Houthis are not the legitimate government of Yemen, though the Iranian government addresses them as such. The group, which calls itself “Ansarullah,” staged a violent attempt at seizing power in Sana’a in 2014, triggering an ongoing civil war against the legitimate government of the country that continues to this day. In addition to targeting the Yemeni military and committing human rights atrocities against Yemeni civilians, including the recruitment of child soldiers, the Houthis waged war against Saudi Arabia, which intervened in Yemen on behalf of the government and became the target of Houthi airstrikes as a result.
Khamenei celebrated the chaos caused by his proxy force during remarks on Tuesday at an event with “Friday prayer leaders,” according to the Iranian state outlet PressTV.
“The Yemeni nation and the Ansarullah government did a great job … They damaged the vital channels of the Zionist regime. The United States threatened [them], but they were not afraid of the U.S.,” Khamenei said, adding that the terrorist group “deserves admiration and appreciation.”
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SOURCE: www.breitbart.com
RELATED: Iran’s Leader Praises Houthi Attacks On Shipping
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during a meeting in Tehran on January 16, 2024
Published January 17, 2024
Despite international criticism of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the leader of the Islamic Republic commended and praised the militia.
In a speech on Tuesday, Ali Khamnenei claimed that the Houthis have struck a blow to the “vital arteries of Israel.”
The Shiite Houthi group in Yemen, known as Ansarullah, which has long enjoyed significant financial and military support from the Islamic Republic, has committed dozens of attacks on global shipping, including US and Israeli linked vessels since November.
US and British forces jointly targeted dozens of positions of the militants in response to Houthi attacks on international shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden last Thursday.
Subsequently, the US President announced that Washington had delivered a “private message” to Iran regarding the Houthis and their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, which is a major trade passage, forcing many companies to go longer, more costly routes. The Iranian Foreign Minister confirmed receiving the message but stated that the Houthis would continue their attacks in the Red Sea until the end of the Gaza conflict.
In his speech to Friday prayer leaders in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei, who first called for the blockade in the wake of the Gaza war sparked by Hamas’s invasion of Israel on October 7, praised and prayed for the “struggle and resistance” of the Shiite Houthis, urging it to “continue until victory.”
He said, “What they did in supporting the people of Gaza is commendable. They struck blows to the vital arteries of the Zionist regime, without fearing the United States.”
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SOURCE: www.iranintl.com
RELATED: ‘Great Job’: Iran’s Khamenei Hails Houthis For Defying U.S. Threats In Special Message | Watch
Published January 17, 2024
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has hailed Yemen’s Houthis. Praising Houthis, Khamenei said they did a “great job” in defiance of U.S. threats. Speaking at an event in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei said that the Yemeni maritime campaign in support of Palestinians deserves admiration and appreciation. On January 15, a U.S.-owned ship, MV Gibraltar Eagle, was attacked by Houthis. This is the first time a Houthi missile has managed to hit a U.S.-owned ship.
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