America is vulnerable. Thanks to the Biden Administration, an al-Qaeda dirty bomb attack may be coming sooner than we realize.
As the rest of the world prepared for the Christmas celebrations this year, gathering gifts and goodies of all shapes and sizes to share with their friends and families, in the al-Bayda region of Yemen, al-Qaeda was preparing to receive an unintended radioactive gift from Iran: weapons-grade uranium for making a nuclear weapon.
A History of Violence
Since the outbreak of the Yemen Civil War in 2014 (itself a result of the failed foreign policy of former President Barack Obama), the two largest Muslim powers in the Middle East—the Sunni-dominated Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Shiite-controlled Islamic Republic of Iran—have jockeyed for influence and control in the divided nation of Yemen.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has labeled the Yemen Civil War the worst human rights catastrophe in the world, as of October 2022. As both Iran and Saudi Arabia fight for control over the nation, the two rival Muslim powers have enlisted the help of local militants to serve as their proxies. The Shiite Islamic Houthi Rebels are aligned with Iran while Saudi Arabia has had to rely on a hodgepodge of Sunni extremist groups, including al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, to serve their interests on the ground in Yemen.
Since the outbreak of the civil war, given Yemen’s geostrategic location along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and just south of Saudi Arabia, Iran has desired to use the broken nation as a place from which it can threaten its rival, Saudi Arabia, for regional dominance. The Houthis have proven to be a valuable ally to the Iranians—so much so that the Iranian regime has spent millions of dollars and many years training the rebel fighters, giving them critical intelligence on their Sunni rivals, and even supplying them with a sophisticated, increasingly dangerous weapons to use not only in Yemen but more troublingly against Saudi Arabia.
In 2018, for example, advanced Iranian drones were piloted by the Houthi Rebels and struck against the Abqaiq oil refinery in an attempt by the Iranians and their Houthi allies to drive up the price of oil on the international market and to slow the flow of critical oil supplies from Saudi Arabia to the rest of the world. Thankfully, the plot did not work. But the threat should not be ignored. Eventually, the Iranian-backed group will hit its mark.
This is all the more likely if reports from the week of December 12 about Iran’s attempt to hand over weapons-grade uranium to the Houthis are true.
Since the outbreak of the Yemen Civil War in 2014 (itself a result of the failed foreign policy of former President Barack Obama), the two largest Muslim powers in the Middle East—the Sunni-dominated Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Shiite-controlled Islamic Republic of Iran—have jockeyed for influence and control in the divided nation of Yemen.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has labeled the Yemen Civil War the worst human rights catastrophe in the world, as of October 2022. As both Iran and Saudi Arabia fight for control over the nation, the two rival Muslim powers have enlisted the help of local militants to serve as their proxies. The Shiite Islamic Houthi Rebels are aligned with Iran while Saudi Arabia has had to rely on a hodgepodge of Sunni extremist groups, including al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, to serve their interests on the ground in Yemen.
Since the outbreak of the civil war, given Yemen’s geostrategic location along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and just south of Saudi Arabia, Iran has desired to use the broken nation as a place from which it can threaten its rival, Saudi Arabia, for regional dominance. The Houthis have proven to be a valuable ally to the Iranians—so much so that the Iranian regime has spent millions of dollars and many years training the rebel fighters, giving them critical intelligence on their Sunni rivals, and even supplying them with a sophisticated, increasingly dangerous weapons to use not only in Yemen but more troublingly against Saudi Arabia.
In 2018, for example, advanced Iranian drones were piloted by the Houthi Rebels and struck against the Abqaiq oil refinery in an attempt by the Iranians and their Houthi allies to drive up the price of oil on the international market and to slow the flow of critical oil supplies from Saudi Arabia to the rest of the world. Thankfully, the plot did not work. But the threat should not be ignored. Eventually, the Iranian-backed group will hit its mark.
This is all the more likely if reports from the week of December 12 about Iran’s attempt to hand over weapons-grade uranium to the Houthis are true.
A Dangerous Turn
As part of yet another Iranian weapons transfer to the Houthis, Israeli sources discovered that a shipment of weapons-grade uranium was being shipped from Iran to the rebels in Yemen. Fortunately for the Saudis and the rest of the region, the shipment was intercepted before it...
As part of yet another Iranian weapons transfer to the Houthis, Israeli sources discovered that a shipment of weapons-grade uranium was being shipped from Iran to the rebels in Yemen. Fortunately for the Saudis and the rest of the region, the shipment was intercepted before it...
