Brigadier-General Rostam Ghasemi, economic deputy to Revolutionary Guards' commander-in-chief, lashed out Friday [April 23] at the foreign ministry after its statement repudiating his earlier claim that Iran offered military support to Yemeni Houthis. The ministry insisted the relationship was “only political.”

"The gentlemen of the foreign ministry have so got themselves entrapped in the fruitless game of the nuclear talks that they have forgotten the policies of the Islamic Republic," Ghasemi wrote in a tweet(link is external).

Ghasemi attached a video clip of remarks by Mohammad-Hossein Bagheri, chief of staff of the Armed Forces, who in 2019 said the Revolutionary Guards had sent military advisors to aid Houthis, who have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since 2015. "We will remain alongside the people of Yemen so they can repel this aggression against their country," Bagheri says in the clip.

In an interview with the Arabic service of Russia Today on Wednesday, Ghasemi had said that the Revolutionary Guards had provided weapons "in a very limited way" to Houthis at the beginning of the Yemeni war, and had trained them in producing weapons. Only "a small number of Revolutionary Guards advisors, less than a handful" were now in Yemen, Ghasemi explained, with Houthis now able to produce their own missiles and drones.

Since the Saudis intervened in Yemen in 2015, Iran has been accused of arming Riyadh’s opponents, the mainly Zaidi Shiite tribally-based Houthis, who dislodged the internationally recognized government from the capital Sanaa. Saudi Arabia and Iran also back opposing sides in Syria, and are allied with rival forces in Iraq and Lebanon.

Ghasemi's remarks came after news of direct talks and possible rapprochement between Iran and its regional rival, and could therefore be seen as an attempt to undermined the Iraqi-mediated negotiations, which according to one official quoted by the Financial Times included positive discussion of Yemen.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, leader of the Houthi movement, officially called Ansar Allah, told Russia's Sputnik(link is external) that Ghasemi's statement was nothing but provocation to the Gulf States “to go to a direct battle with them.” Ghasemi, who served as oil minister under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2011-2013), has declared himself a candidate in June’s presidential election.