Analysis: Will Yemen’s Houthis join the war to support Iran?

– More than 10 days after the United States and Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran, Yemen’s Houthi movement, one of Tehran’s main regional allies, has largely remained on the sidelines, despite issuing repeated threats and expressions of solidarity with Iran.

Analysts say the restraint suggests that both the Yemeni militants and their Iranian allies are still weighing whether opening a secondary front in the Red Sea is strategically necessary — at least for now.

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi declared “full solidarity” with Iran on the first day of the conflict, saying his forces were “fully prepared for any developments.” In subsequent speeches, he reiterated that the group’s “hands are on the trigger” should developments require action, portraying the confrontation as a broader regional struggle rather than a conflict confined to Iran.

His latest statement came Monday, when he congratulated Mojtaba Khamenei on succeeding his late father, Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s supreme leader, again pledging Yemen’s support against the “U.S. and Israeli aggression.”

This ideological alignment has historically translated into action. The rhetoric echoes the Houthis’ role in previous regional crises. During the brief but intense Israel-Iran confrontation in June 2025, the group claimed it fired ballistic missiles toward Israel in coordination with Iranian forces. Since the Gaza war in 2023, it has also launched missiles and drones toward Israel and carried out attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

However, the current silence suggests a different playbook is being employed.

“The Houthis are waiting for a strategic signal,” said Mujeeb Shamsan, a Yemeni military analyst. He noted that for the Yemeni militants, entering the fray is a matter of “when,” not “if,” but they require the right moment to maximize their leverage.

Maysaa Shujaa al-Deen, a researcher at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, suggests that the signal may not have come because Iran does not yet need it