Bab al-Mandab for UAE Security: UAE Agreed to Fund Houthi Campaign in Deal with Iran, Source Says

Iran negotiated an agreement under which the United Arab Emirates would finance the Houthis’ campaign to seize Bab al-Mandab in exchange for an end to missile attacks on Abu Dhabi, a source told Sheba Intelligence.

The source, who previously disclosed secret contacts between Emirati officials and the Houthis, said the agreement followed an August 20 meeting in Abu Dhabi attended by the group’s spokesman, Mohammed Abdulsalam, and other Houthi leaders.

Following the agreement, the UAE informed Iran that it would cover all costs of mobilisation and military operations until the Houthis secured control of Bab al-Mandab, the source said.

The source also did not rule out the arrangement extending to support further Houthi operations in Marib and Taiz after the coastal campaign. Such an extension was presented as the source’s assessment, rather than a confirmed provision of the agreement.

In its August 27 report, Sheba Intelligence revealed that Emirati officials had offered to bring the Houthis into a new regional framework and provide various forms of support in return for severing ties with Iran and coordinating with the Southern Transitional Council on Yemen’s future governance and security arrangements. The Houthi delegation neither accepted nor rejected the proposal at the meeting, saying it would study the offer.

According to the source’s latest account, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the group’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, was among the leaders most receptive to the Emirati condition that the group work with Abu Dhabi instead of Tehran.

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, however, saw the offer as an opportunity to bring Iran into the arrangement, the source said. The source attributed Abu Dhabi’s pursuit of the agreement to a desire to retaliate over developments in Hadramout, an interpretation of Emirati motives that has not been independently verified.

If confirmed, the account would indicate that contacts initially aimed at distancing the Houthis from Iran evolved into an arrangement involving Tehran itself, linking security assurances for Abu Dhabi to financial support for a Houthi campaign at a major international shipping chokepoint.

On September 11, Sheba Intelligence reported, citing intelligence sources, that the Houthis had taken control of Dhubab district and Mayun Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The sources also described an Iranian Revolutionary Guard-supervised plan to advance toward the Al-Arah coast in Lahj governorate to consolidate the group’s position around the strait. Those details have not been independently verified.

The following day, September 12, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi. The Abu Dhabi Media Office said the leaders discussed regional and international issues and stressed the importance of easing tensions, supporting de-escalation and strengthening regional stability.

On September 13, Pezeshkian described the talks as good and said the two sides had agreed to put the past aside and work toward building a shared future. 

The source’s account of the agreement, including the alleged Emirati financing commitment, has not been independently verified. The UAE’s public readout of the New Delhi meeting made no reference to arrangements involving the Houthis or Bab al-Mandab.