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Additional information is available at the Department ofJustice, Washington, DC. Facts about the Houthis and Iran I. IRAN: • Iran has supported the Houthi movement since its inception. The Houthis ate a minority in Yemen, and Iran uses them to exploit divisions within Yemen's society. • During the 1990s, the leaders of the Houthi militia were indoctrinated in the Iranian city of Qoum as part of an Iranian attempt to construct a Hezbollah-like proxy in Yemen to acquire a strategic foothold threatening the vital waterway of Bab Al-Mandab. • The Houthis' slogan is derived from Iran's own anti-U.S. slogans. Their slogan 1s, "Death to America, Death to Israel, Damn the Jews." • Iran wants to turn the Houthis into a Yemeni version of Hezbollah, thereby turning Yemen into a second Lebanon, where a militia is constantly holding the government hostage. • Iran's goal is to create a threat on the southern border of Saudi Arabia, while at the same time extending their reach by establishing a presence along the strategic strait of Bab AlMandab in the Red Sea. • When the Houthis took over the Yemeni capital Sanaa, flights between Sanaa and Tehran quadrupled overnight to 28 weekly flights. • After the Houthi takeover of the Yemeni capital, a senior Iranian official proclaimed in the press that "Iran now controls four Arab capitals.'1 The other three: Damascus, Bagdad, and Beirut. • In fact, Iran has sent trainers and advisers from the IRGC and Hezbollah to train Houthi fighters. (A video of a Hezbollah adviser training Houthis is publicly available). • Over the past four years, several major arm shipments from Iran to the Houthis were interdicted. These shipments carried advanced weapons to the Houthis. • Last year, the Houthis used such advanced weaponry against the U.S. They attacked the USS Mason as it was patrolling the strategic strait of Bab Al-Mandab. • Iran has also provided the Houthis with unmanned remote-controlled boats and drones. (The Houthis used an unmanned boat to s_trike a Saudi naval vessel). • Iran's support for the Houthis is prolonging the conflict, as they will not allow the Houthis to reach a political solution based on UN Security Council Resolution 2216. Iran Received byNSD/FARA Registration Unit 03/13/2018 10:38:47 AM Received by NSP/FARA Registration Unit 03/13/2018 10:38:47 AM -2- does not want the Houthis to become a political party; Iran wants the Houthis to remain a heavily-anned militia operating outside the organs of the state. 2. BALLISTIC MISSILES: • Iran's support for the Houthis has the potential to destabilize the region, and even threatens U.S. interests out.side Yemen. • Iran has provided the Houthis with ballistic missiles, capable of reaching U.S. personnel in the region. • Since the beginning of this conflict, the Houthis have launched more than 230 ballistic missiles, at least 79 of which fired were into Samii Arabia, mostly at civilian targets. o o o • 3,148 civilian locations in Saudi Arabia, including homes, fanns, mosques and schools have been impacted by Houthi attacks. 2,825 houses, 272 stores, and 87 fanns, and at least 1397 cars have been damaged by the Houthis' indiscriminate shelling. After assessing and evaluating the remnants of the ballistic missile fired by the Houthis into Saudi Arabia on July 27, both Saudi authorities and US intelligence agencies confinned that the projectile was an Iranian-produced missile that was not present in Yemen prior to the conflict's origin. ' • Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement this past week that the July launch involved an Iranian Qiam-1, a liquid-fueled, short-range Scud missile variant. In early November, the Houthis launched a ballistic missile with a range of more than 560 miles targeting Riyadh. o o Lieutenant General Jeffrey L. Harrigian, Commander, U.S. Air Forces Central Command, Southwest Asia, commenting after the November 4 th attempted ballistic missile strike on Riyadh's international airport, stated: "There have been Iranian markings on those missiles. To me, that connects the dots to Iran." On November 8, the White House released a statement on "Iranian-Supported Missile Attacks Against Saudi Arabia": The United States welcomes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's statement exposing the Iranian regime's support for Houthi militias, including the supply of illegal anns such as ballistic missiles. We condemn the Iranian regime's activities and stand with Saudi Arabia and all our Gulf partners against the Iranian regime's aggression and blatant violations of international law. These missile systems were not present in Yemen before the conflict, and we call upon the United Nations to conduct a thorough examination of evidence that the Iranian regime is perpetuating the war in Yemen to advance its regional ambitions. The United States calls on all nations to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its repeated violations of UN Security Council Received byNSD/FARA Registration Unit 03/13/2018 10:38:47 AM Received by NSD/FARA Registration Unit 03/13/2018 10:38:47 AM -3- Resolutions 2216 and 2231, which ban arrrts transfers to the Houthis and prohibit Iran from exporting all arms and related materiel and specifically balHstic missile-related items. Houthi missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, enabled by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, threaten regional security and undermine UN efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict. The United States seeks a negotiated settlement to the conflict and the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Yemeni people. The United States will continue working with other like-minded partners to respond to these attacks and expose the Iranian regime's destabilizing .activities in the region. • The Houthi leader announced last week that the Houthis have missiles capable of reaching Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and that they have launched a testmissile targeting Abu Dhabi. Missiles with this range were not previously present in Yemen, and the Houthis do not possess the capability to develop such weapons inside Yemen. (Note: There is a U.S. military presence at a base in Abu Dhabi). • In an interview with Al-Jazeera on October 28, the Houth_is' spokesperson Mohammed ;\bdulsalam said, "One of the top priorities· for our ballistic missiles force is targeting Abudhabi," adding that "it is a main clear military target." 3. AQAP (AL-QAEDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA): • Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch remains active, and poses a threat to U.S. national security, • Since September 11, 2001, some of the most dangerous Al-Qaeda plots against the U.S. homeland have emanated from Yemen. This includes the underwear bomber, and the printer cartridge bomb plot. • Saudi Arabia's ongoing security and intelligence cooperation with its partners in the region has helped disrupt these plots and save numerous lives. In fact, it was Saudi Arabia that provided the U.S. with the inform11tion that led to the disruption of the printer cartridge botnb plot. • This year, Saudi Arabia and its regional piir!ners carried out a major operation in Shabwa in Yemen against a large AQAP presence. Last year, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and the UAE conducted a major operation to clear the Yemeni city of Mukalla of AQAP. This operation led to the killing of 500 of AQAP operatives. • The Gentleman frotn California (Rep. Ro Khanna) has stated that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are de facto allies of AQAP. This is absolutely false. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are two of America's closest and most important aHies in the war on terror. Received by NSD/FARA Registration Unit 03/13/2018 10:38:47 AM Received by NSD/FARA Registration Unit 03/13/2018 10:38:47 AM -4- 4. WORTH MENTIONING: • Pulling the U.S. presence from Yemen will have catastrophic results, because: o It leaves AQAP unchecked in an unstable country with a power vacuum; o It exposes U.S. personnel in the region and other allies to the increased threat of Iranian ballistic missiles; · o It will embolden fran and its proxies to threaten maritime navigation in a strategic area; o It could allow a Hezbollah-like militia to control Yemen, tuITling Yemen into a magnet for foreign terrorist fighters. This will bolster AQAP and ISIS in Yemen, potentially leading to a situation similar to that in Syria; and o It will abandon U.S. allies and partners, while Iran continues to back its allies in the region. • Regarding Rep. Khanna' s concerns relating to the Coalition's targeting procedures, the USG assessment is that these procedures have, in fact, improved significantly and are now on par with U.S. procedures in Afghanistan. • With respect to the cholera outbreak in Yemen, the situation has improved significantly according to announcement by Doctors without Borders this past week. o Saudi Arabia and the Coalition countries are the largest donors of humanitarian a.id to Yemen. • The only thing that will push the Houthis towards a political solution is recognizing that the U.S. firmly stands by its allies and partners. Received by NSD/FARA Registration Urtit 03/13/2018 10:38:47 AM