U.S. Abandons Embassy in Yemen as Iranian Proxy Gains Control

After already operating with a very reduced staff, the United States evacuated its embassy in Yemen earlier this week. The State Department officially announced the closure late Tuesday night, citing security risks given a deteriorating political situation inside the country.

The Houthis, a Shiite rebel group in Yemen supported by Iran, have taken control of the government in a coup d’état following the September 2014 seizure of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, and after violating a U.N.-brokered peace accord, which effectively isolated Yemen’s western-backed president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, despite maintaining the pretense of political power.

The coup culminated in late January when the rebels pressured, effectively at gunpoint, President Hadi and the cabinet of Prime Minister Khaled Bahah to resign. The Houthis officially dissolved the parliament last week, and have called for the creation of the Transitional National Council to replace Yemen’s parliament and to elect the Presidential Council.

The situation in Yemen is especially severe given the Houthi’s backing from Iran and endorsement of Iran’s anti-American, anti-Semitic Islamic revolutionary ideology. The rebels’ slogan, roughly translated from Arabic, is “‘Allah is greater. Death to America. Death to Israel. A curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam.”’ This rhetoric is identical to that of jihadists carrying out terrorist attacks around the world, and this group will be replacing a government that the U.S. had supported.

Another reason for the U.S. to be fearful of this new Yemen is the strong presence of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the country’s south. AQAP is considered the terrorist network’s most effective branch. President Hadi helped the U.S. fight al-Qaeda, but it is unclear what Yemen will look like with Shia jihadists controlling the government in the north and much of Sunni AQAP operating in the south.

It is in this security environment that the U.S. evacuated its embassy in Yemen. Britain and France quickly followed suit, and both the Iranians and Houthis are critical of these closures while seeing recent events as a sign of Iranian expansion. Iranian Armed Forces’ Chief of Staff General Hassan Firouzabadi called these embassy closures a conspiracy saying that Yemen and Sanaa are safe and stable unless Americans and Europeans interfere. A senior Iranian diplomat called these western responses “hasty and purposeful.”

The Houthis had similar reactions, calling the actions “unjustified.” Hussein al-Ezzi, the Shia militia’s head of foreign relations, echoed this sentiment declaring the closures an attempt to pressure the Yemeni people.

But despite this anger, the Iranians are clearly ecstatic regarding their Shia allies’ control of Yemen. Major General Ghasem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Qods Force, called the Houthis taking power evidence of [Iran’s] Islamic Revolution spreading throughout the Middle East. While Iran and the Houthis are using accusatory rhetoric, they are pleased with how events have turned out in Yemen.

U.S. Embassy personnel did not want to add to this pleasure by leaving weapons and military equipment behind for the Houthis. Reports have alleged, however, that the State Department ordered the marine security detachment guarding the embassy in Yemen to surrender their arms to local authorities before departure. The Marine Corps has denied this, saying no weapons were surrendered.

The marines did destroy larger weapons systems and classified documents but kept their smaller weapons. It does appear that the marines had to hand over smaller arms to local authorities since weapons are not allowed on commercial flights. The Houthis also took about 30 American vehicles left behind from the evacuation, which the State Department said is unacceptable.

The closure of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen is a further sign of the country’s chaotic condition and its effects on the Middle East. Now that Yemen is governed by the Iranian-backed Houthis, America has lost an ally to Tehran’s influence. With AQAP also an issue, the country seems poised to fall further into disarray. But out of all the rubble, one fact is clear: Iran is expanding its reach, trying to gain regional hegemony before America’s eyes.