IRGC Commander: We Told Yemenis to Strike Two Saudi Oil Tankers and They Did

A senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that the Islamic Republic asked Yemeni rebels to attack two Saudi oil tankers, and they carried out this action. According to a report on Tuesday from Etemad Online, Nasser Shabani, head of the Defense Security Research Center at Imam Hussein University, stated in a speech in Shandiz, Mashhad, that groups such as Hezbollah and Ansar Allah in Yemen are the 'backbone' of the Islamic Republic in the region. He added, 'We told the Yemenis to hit the two Saudi tankers, and they did... The enemy is so vulnerable that we can engage them across the border; however, we do not insist on confronting Saudi Arabia on the other side of the border.' Fars News Agency published this part of Shabani's remarks on Monday but later removed it from their output. On Tuesday afternoon, Etemad Online also removed this news from their output. Meanwhile, one day after the original report was published by Fars News Agency, the agency issued a clarification regarding Shabani's comments about Yemen, stating, 'The distorted phrase published was due to the inaccuracy of the reporter and the news publisher.' The agency added, 'The editor of the news agency immediately took action to correct the text in a very short time due to the distortion of this phrase, and therefore, it seems that the mentioned image was also mischievously taken from the cache of search engines.' Currently, Fars News Agency has modified its initial text to quote Nasser Shabani as saying, 'We have a backbone in the region today. Some Western officials and hostile media have implied that we told the Yemenis to hit the two Saudi ships, and they did; while the spiritual children of the revolution in the region have reached such a level of capability that they can carry out such operations themselves.' Saudi Arabia announced on July 25 that two giant oil tankers (VLCCs) of the country were targeted by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, with one sustaining minor damage. Following this incident, the Israeli Prime Minister stated that if Iran attempts to block the Bab al-Mandab Strait, it will likely face an international coalition, and Israel will join this coalition. The Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and is very close to southern Israel, is important for both Israel and Saudi Arabia. This incident followed threats from Iranian officials regarding the closure of regional straits and reports about the increase in Saudi oil production after U.S. sanctions against Iran to control the oil market. The United Nations reported last year that Iran had violated international prohibitions by directly or indirectly supplying weapons to the Houthis in connection with the arms embargo on Yemen. The U.S. and its allies have repeatedly accused Iran of supplying weapons to the rebels. Iran has denied these accusations. Iran has always denied providing military support to the Yemeni rebels, and this is the first time a military official in the Islamic Republic has spoken about a direct order from Iran to the Houthis to attack and confirmed it.