Top U.S. General: Iranian Regional Meddling Has Increased Since Nuclear Deal

Yemeni women loyal to the Houthi movement hold up rifles as they attend a gathering in the capital Sanaa o Iran has boosted its investments in militant and terrorist groups across the Middle East since the enactment of the 2015 nuclear deal, the nation’s top general who oversees U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.

“What it took 20 years for Iran to do in Lebanon with the Lebanese Hezbollah, they’re attempting to do in about five years with the Houthis in Yemen,” General Joseph Votel told lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee. “They’re accelerating their pace and their ability to do this.”
Asked whether Iran has reduced, maintained, or enhanced its investment in their proxy forces since the birth of the nuclear deal, Votel said, “I would characterize it as an enhanced investment in their proxies and partners.”
Tehran provides money, weapons, and tactics, to groups throughout the Middle East, in addition to “cultivating a network of operatives across the globe as a contingency to enable potential terrorist attacks,” according to an intelligence community assessment released earlier this month.
Votel also said that he is highly concerned about the expansion, both in quantity and quality, of Iran’s ballistic missile force. Iran holds the largest ballistic missile inventory in the Middle East.
“Like we go out to China Lake to test our weapons systems, they go to Yemen to test their weapons systems,” he said. “They are taking advantage of these opportunities to improve their capabilities around the world. I definitely am concerned about this.”
Iran supports Houthi rebels in the ongoing civil war in Yemen, and has provided them with “increasingly sophisticated maritime and missile attack capabilities.”
In response to questioning from Wyoming representative Liz Cheney, Votel said that Iran’s advancing ballistic missile arsenal, along with the export of those capabilities, represents one of CENTCOM’s main concerns. “These weapons pose the threat of widening the conflict out of Yemen, and frankly put our forces, our embassy in Riyadh, our forces in the United Arab Emirates, at risk,” he said.

Votel also told Cheney that “countering Iran is not one of the coalition missions in Syria.” After some pushback, he said that the U.S. is able to “indirectly” impede Iran’s objectives in Syria by maintaining relationships with Iraqi forces and Syrian Democratic Forces. “In many regards, these partners share the same concerns we do,” he said.n January 14, 2018.