Sanctions on Iran will make it come to its senses

Iran’s support to the Houthis must be viewed seriously for the stability of the region. By providing drones to the terror group that can disable antimissile batteries, Iran is playing a dangerous game that does not give peace a chance. It’s not just highend technology that the Houthis are getting to lay their hands on, thanks to their backers, the Iranians are also sending in advisors and special forces to aid the Houthis and troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who are waging a protracted war in the country. The latest revelation by Conflict Armament Research, a think-tank backed by the European Union, confirms what the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis have been saying for the last two years of the conflict. Iran has taken asymmetric warfare in the region to a new level with this advanced technology being deployed by the group against mainly Saudi positions. The so-called ‘kamikaze’ drone crashes and destroys US-built Patriot missile batteries. This enables the terror group to target areas with missiles on the border with Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis themselves do not have the know-how to assemble the gadgets. They may have been supplied by the Revolutionary Guards on the orders of the Iranian top brass. Some shipments of these drone were seized by the UAE Navy during patrols near the Horn of Africa. Iran’s gameplan is for all to see. It has used the opportunity to spread its influence using its military or proxies after Western sanctions were eased after the nuclear deal two years ago. Many thought this development would defang it and put it on the road to cooperation with the Gulf states. Instead, Tehran has become a ‘force for instability’ in the region. The Saudi-led coalition has tackled the threat head on by taking back the south of the country. Much will now depend on how the Trump administration deals with the regime. Trump has called the nuclear deal a failure and has slapped sanctions against some Iranian entitities operating in the region. More needs to be done to stop Iranian arms supplies to the Houthis and Hezbollah. Fresh sanctions against the regime may not a bad idea, but Moscow, Iran’s big supporter, must be roped in to make it work.