Iran-Israel confrontation
Iran-Israel confrontationiStock

Yochanan Visser is an independent journalist/analyst who worked for many years as Middle East correspondent for Western Journalism.com in Arizona and was a frequent publicist for the main Dutch paper De Volkskrant. He authoreda book in the Dutch language about the cognitive war against Israel and now lives in Gush Etzion. He writes a twice weekly analysis of current issues for Arutz Sheva.

Iran is lying through its teeth again about its involvement in the devastating Yemeni war which has killed thousands of people and caused a huge humanitarian crisis making 80 percent of the population of Yemen dependent on some form of foreign aid.

This week, after Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Iran for violating an arms embargo by supplying weapons and missiles to the Ansar Allah (Houthi) militia in Yemen, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied his country had sent weapons to Yemen while blasting Great Britain for “dishonest behavior” in drafting the resolution.

"We don’t send weapons to Yemen. Such allegations and attempts are made to project the blame on others by those who want to use the existing situation against Iran," the spokesman, Bahram Qassemi told reporters in Tehran.

“We are witnessing a [sic] dishonest behavior from the British government that uses the international mechanisms to defend the aggressor despite its slogans about a peaceful settlement of the Yemen crisis," Qassemi charged.

He then claimed that whatever happens in Yemen “is the result of the export of British and American arms.”

Qassemi’s remarks came after General Joseph Votel, head of the U.S. Central Command in the Middle East (CENTCOM,) sounded the alarm about Iran’s involvement in Yemen.

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Votel claimed the Islamic Republic has achieved in five years in Yemen what it took two decades to do in Lebanon, which has been turned into an Iranian client state.

“Iran has extended its tentacles across the region through numerous proxies, including Lebanese Hezbollah operating in multiple countries, hardline Iranian-backed Shia militia groups (SMGs) in Iraq and Syria, and Iranian support has enabled the Houthis,” according to the CENTCOM commander.

If you wonder who’s speaking the truth about Iran’s involvement in Yemen, you don’t need a recently leaked report by UN experts which unequivocally stated Iran is delivering military aid to Ansar Allah.

All you have to do is read what Ali Akbar Velayati, one of the top advisers on foreign policy to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, said on the sidelines of a recent conference in support of a new Palestinian Intifada, held in Tehran at the beginning of February.

"Our presence in the region is inevitable. We will continue this process, so as to become the most decisive force in the region,” according to Velayati.

“We are present in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon, at the behest of and in coordination with the governments of these countries,” he continued.

“We help Yemen because it is our human duty to do so. Saudi Arabia must know that this ongoing process will make Yemen its Vietnam," the former Iranian Foreign Minister said.

By making this statement Velayati proved two things.

First, Iran is again using the so-called Al-Taqqiyah tactic to deceive its enemies.

According to the authoritative Islamic text, Al-Taqiyya Fi Al-Islam, “Taqiyyah (deception) is of fundamental importance in Islam. Practically every Islamic sect agrees to it and practices it…Taqiyyah is very prevalent in Islamic politics, especially in the modern era.”

The Iranians are masters in using Al-Taqqiyah to advance their imperialistic agenda for the Middle East and now even claim that they are not building a coalition of Shiite forces in Syria and Iraq which will confront Israel in the future.

During an interview with the BBC, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country's presence in Syria “was not aimed at creating a new front against Israel” and denied Iran had recently sent a large attack drone into Israeli airspace.

Secondly, Velayati revealed for the first time that Iran’s military aid to Ansar Allah is not aimed at winning the civil war in Yemen, but at destabilizing Saudi Arabia, which is the custodian of the Muslim holy places.

To understand why Iran uses Yemen as a springboard to destabilize and eventually take over Saudi Arabia one has to understand Iran’s so-called Mahdi doctrine.

One of the pillars of this messianic doctrine, which envisions the return of the Shiite messiah Mahdi, also called the hidden twelfth imam, is the beginning of an Islamic uprising that will spread all over the world. This uprising will be accompanied by mayhem and chaos as well as an increase in natural and man-made disasters.

So, according to the mullahs, the wars in Iraq were a good thing because they resulted in growing Shiite (Iranian) dominance over the country which in the future will house the capital of Mahdi’s imperium.

The second pillar is the rise of Iran which prepares the world for the coming of the Mahdi, according to the doctrine.

Another important event which will hasten the coming of the Shiiite messiah is “a holy revolution” which is to take place in Yemen,” according to a documentary produced by the Iranian regime in 2011.

The (Shiite) soldiers of Mahdi will enter Saudi Arabia and the Muslim holy places via Yemen after a bloody battle which involves the Houthis, an Arab legion, the U.S. and Israel, according to the documentary “the Coming is upon us”.

The film also predicts the end of Israel. The Jewish State will have to confront “extra forces which will arrive from Iraq”.

“The annihilation of the Zionist regime and the conquering of ‘Beitol Moghadas’ (Jerusalem) is one of the most important events in the age of the Coming,” the voiceover in the movie says.

From here it’s easy to understand why Ansar Allah in 2016 blocked a UN brokered peace deal between the parties in Yemen and why Iran is currently meddling in the upcoming Iraqi elections.

It also explains why Iran is building up a force consisting of Shiite militias in both Iraq and Syria and why the Islamic Republic decided to engage Israel directly for the first time recently and is trying to get a foothold on the Syrian Golan heights.