Iran is giving Yemen’s Houthis targeting intelligence, training and tactical guidance for missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, citing people briefed on intelligence from Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s anti-Houthi alliance. The report says that help has driven the group’s most sophisticated attacks yet. Iran has denied interfering in Yemen, and a senior Houthi official rejected the claims.
What the report says about Houthis targeting intelligence
According to the Journal’s account, as summarized by Iran International, the assistance includes help aiming drone and missile strikes along with training, intelligence and battlefield advice. People familiar with regional intelligence said officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) inside Yemen helped the Houthis deploy missiles and radars that threaten shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait. One anti-Houthi official said IRGC officers were on the front lines helping to direct the attacks.
A summary of the report by Sada News Agency adds that IRGC officers support specialized Houthi units working on drones, missiles, tunnels and logistics, and it describes flights by Iran’s sanctioned Mahan Air that carried IRGC personnel and weapons components such as drone spare parts and missile guidance systems. All of these details come from unnamed sources and have not been independently confirmed.
Houthi gains near Bab al-Mandab
The report links Iranian support to a Houthi offensive that began in early September. Using large numbers of fighters backed by missiles and drones, the group caught Saudi-backed Yemeni forces off guard and seized the Red Sea port city of Mokha and ground around Bab al-Mandab. The Houthis now hold coastline on their side of the strait, the narrow passage between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
A person with the forces fighting the Houthis said the group showed more skill than in earlier rounds, combining infantry assaults with missile and drone strikes. Those included first-person-view drones guided by fiber-optic cable, which are hard to jam because they do not rely on radio signals.
Strikes on Saudi airports and energy sites
The Houthis have attacked Saudi oil tankers, energy facilities and airports. The Saudi-led coalition said the group struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh 20 times in October, and Saudi officials say at least 19 people have been killed in the recent attacks across the kingdom, Iran International reported. Overnight, the coalition said it destroyed two ballistic missile launch platforms in Yemen’s Saada province while sirens sounded in the Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha, Ynet reported. On Thursday, Houthi missiles hit the presidential palace compound in Aden, killing five people, according to Yemeni authorities.
The Boston Report has tracked how Houthi strikes on Saudi airports widened the regional war, and a separate report found that the group’s Kheibar Shekan missile was built with Chinese parts. Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Rayed Krimly said on Thursday that the Houthis had turned down an invitation to talks in Oman in July.
Why a second chokepoint matters
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is already under fire; this week the container ship GFS Pride sank in the strait. Sustained pressure on Bab al-Mandab would put a second chokepoint at risk on the sea route linking Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal, raising costs for shippers, insurers and fuel buyers far from the Gulf.
Baraa Shiban, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told Iran International that Iran “saw how valuable and important the Strait of Hormuz was and it wanted to add another choke point.” Yemen analyst Fatima Alasrar wrote on X that Iran could keep leverage through Bab al-Mandab even if it reached a deal with Washington over Hormuz. The Houthis also have goals of their own, including tighter control of Yemen and an end to Saudi support for rival Yemeni forces.
Reactions and denials
Senior Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti rejected claims of Iranian military involvement, saying they exaggerate Tehran’s role and ignore the group’s own work on its weapons. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said last month that “Iran does not interfere in Yemeni affairs” and called the Houthis independent actors who make their own decisions. Danny Citrinowicz, a former head of the Iran branch of Israeli military intelligence, described the operational relationship between Tehran and the Houthis as “very, very strong.” A United Nations panel of experts found in 2024 that the Houthis had set up joint operations rooms in Lebanon and Iraq.
Sources
- The Wall Street Journal: Iran Is Giving Houthis Targeting and Intelligence for Attacks on Saudi Arabia
- Iran International: Iran giving Houthis targeting intelligence for Saudi attacks
- Iran International: Iranian support helps Houthis mount sophisticated attacks on Saudi Arabia
- Ynet: Iran aiding Houthis with intelligence and directing attacks
- Sada News Agency: Iran provides Houthis with intelligence and targeting data
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