The Iran-aligned Houthi group has not yet actively joined the conflict on behalf of Iran, but recent events have seen a rise in their aggressive declarations supporting Tehran. Their leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, announced their readiness to engage in warfare against the United States and Israel if circumstances demand it.
“Our readiness is unwavering. We are poised to act at a moment’s notice should the situation call for it,” al-Houthi stated on Thursday.
Nadwa Al-Dawsari, a Yemen expert and associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, explained to Fox News Digital that the Houthis remain uninvolved because they are the ultimate line of defense for their alliance, especially after other allies have weakened.
A large crowd assembled at Sabeen Square in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, a region under Houthi control, to protest the assassination of Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on March 6, 2026. (Image: Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Houthi group’s official motto reflects their stance: “Allah is Greater. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam.”
Al-Dawsari, who has extensively covered Yemen and the Houthi movement, suggested, “I anticipate the Houthis will eventually get involved. The longer the conflict endures, the more probable their involvement becomes. Their longstanding desire has been to confront the Saudis, and any Saudi intervention could provide the Houthis with a pretext to strike.”
Houthi terrorists walk over British and U.S. flags at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, on Feb. 4, 2024, near Sana’a, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
The Islamic Republic of Iran formed an “Axis of Resistance” prior to Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Iran’s axis coalition of Shiite and Sunni terrorist proxies, includes the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis, Shiite militias in Iraq, and the now-defunct Baathist regime in Syria.
Within the first few weeks of his administration, President Joe Biden launched a reset with the Houthis and pressured the Saudis to end the war against the bellicose Houthi movement. “The war in Yemen must end,” Biden declared in his first major foreign policy speech about the Mideast in February 2021.
Smoke over Tehran, Iran, after explosions were reported on March 2, 2026. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Biden’s reversal of American support for the Saudi-led allies in their war against the Houthis was also coupled with his administration de-listing the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. President Donald Trump swiftly reimposed the terrorist designation for the Houthis at the start of his second term and launched military strikes against the terrorists in Yemen.
Al-Dawsari said another reason why the Houthis have yet to join the conflict is that it’s not in the interests of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “to drag the Houthis into a suicidal war.” She argues “If the Iranian regime collapses, and if a new regime emerges, I think the IRGC will regroup in Yemen or Somalia. Yemen is the key ally.”
There has been discussion between the IRGC and Houthis about why the “Houthis’ continued existence is of strategic importance to the IRGC,” she said.
“The IRGC can’t afford to lose the Houthis. Yemen is so important to them. They need to preserve the Houthis for tomorrow for the IRGC to continue even after the regime,” Al-Dawsari continued.
This handout screen grab captured from a video shows Yemen’s Houthi fighters’ takeover of the Galaxy Leader Cargo in the Red Sea coast off Yemen, on Nov. 20, 2023. (Houthi Movement via Getty Images)
She noted that “Houthis have established themselves in the Horn of Africa. The IRGC is behind the Houthis. Intervention might be symbolic by the Houthis.” She continued that Iran’s “tactic now is to prolong the war and widen it across the region and to put more pressure on the U.S.”
In May 2025, Trump announced that the U.S. would stop its air bombing campaign against the Houthis because, he said, the Houthis “don’t want to fight.”
“They just don’t want to, and we will honor that. We will stop the bombings,” Trump said. The Houthis had launched attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, as well as the Jewish state, to support their ally Hamas in Gaza.
Al-Dawsari said after the Trump announcement the Houthis did not attack American ships. “They know Trump does not joke. They know they will suffer consequences.”
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