Iran Offers to Broker Saudi-Houthi Talks After Riyadh Strikes — SkimNews
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- Iran offered to facilitate talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaking to Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Sunday — their first publicly reported contact since the Houthis escalated attacks.
- Two Houthi strikes on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Saturday and Sunday killed 14 people and wounded more than 300, including foreign nationals from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Palestine.
- Saudi-backed forces launched Operation Dawn of Yemen on October 4 to reverse Houthi territorial gains, reporting advances near the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a vital international shipping route.
- Tehran is trying to "turn Yemen from a military liability into a diplomatic asset," per King's College London's Andreas Krieg, seeking leverage on Hormuz transit, sanctions relief and the wider regional security architecture as Iran endures a US blockade.
- Krieg cautioned the Houthis are "not simply an Iranian proxy awaiting instructions," noting their leadership has independent political ambitions and views recent territorial gains as strengthening its own negotiating position.
- UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg warned Friday that Yemen had returned to "full-scale war," with civilians bearing the brunt.
Why it matters: Iran is leveraging its ties to the Houthis to press Riyadh on issues far beyond Yemen — Hormuz access, sanctions relief and broader regional architecture — but the Houthis' independent ambitions mean Tehran cannot simply trade away their gains. The decade-long Saudi-led campaign has failed to reverse Houthi control of Sanaa, creating the diplomatic opening Tehran is now exploiting.
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