A source within the Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, has shared with Newsweek a warning to Israel and the United States amid reports of a potential Israeli attack being planned against Iran.
Reports Wednesday of U.S. nonessential personnel and family members being evacuated from regional countries, including Iraq, Bahrain and Kuwait, were followed by a Washington Post article citing unnamed officials indicating that the moves were being undertaken in anticipation of an imminent Israeli strike against Iran.
Israel’s Channel 14 news outlet also reported that the country was preparing to soon launch a major operation against Iran.
The soaring tensions follow an Israeli naval strike conducted Tuesday against Ansar Allah, a member of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance coalition that has been engaged in missile and drone attacks against Israel since the outbreak of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in October 2023.
Reacting to the reports, an Ansar Allah source told Newsweek that the group had adopted a heightened state of readiness as it was already “essentially in a state of war with the Zionist enemy entity due to its aggression and siege on Gaza, followed by its aggression against Yemen.”
“In this regard, we are in a state of constant readiness and are working to escalate our operations against the usurping entity, against the backdrop of the escalating massacres in Gaza and the worsening humanitarian situation there,” the Ansar Allah source said.
The Ansar Allah source also issued a warning to the U.S. should it pursue actions targeting the group or its Iranian ally.
“We are also at the highest level of preparedness for any possible American escalation against us,” the Ansar Allah source said. “Any escalation against the Islamic Republic of Iran is also dangerous and will drag the entire region into the abyss of war.”
“America has no right to attack the countries of our community and our region in service of the Zionist enemy entity, which is considered the primary security threat to the region,” the source added. “It is certainly not in the interest of the American people to become involved in a new war in service of the Zionist entity.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, the Israel Defense Forces and U.S. Central Command for comment.
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The developments come amid new uncertainties surrounding ongoing nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran, which were set to enter their sixth round in Oman on Sunday.
Iranian officials were expected to counter an existing U.S. offer at the meeting, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Beghaei calling the current terms “unacceptable” on Monday.
That same day, President Donald Trump also indicated that Iran’s response thus far had been “unacceptable.” He then told the “Pod Force One” podcast that he was becoming “less confident” in the likelihood of reaching a successful deal.
Yet sources cited by Axios and CNN indicated that Trump had once again discouraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from taking military action against Iran when they spoke on Monday.
Trump has indicated on at least two previous occasions that he had called on the Israeli premier not to conduct attacks on Iran while negotiations were ongoing.
The U.S. leader also reached a bilateral agreement with Ansar Allah last month, after which the Yemeni group halted an unprecedented maritime campaign targeting international civilian vessels and U.S. military warships on hundreds of occasions.
Yet Ansar Allah has pressed on with direct attacks against Israel, most recently launching a ballistic missile Wednesday just hours after the Israeli Navy targeted Yemen’s Al-Hodeidah port in response to earlier attacks from the group.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi struck a more positive note regarding nuclear talks on Tuesday, saying that Trump’s repeated vow to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon “is actually in line with our own doctrine and could become the main foundation for a deal.”
“As we resume talks on Sunday, it is clear that an agreement that can ensure the continued peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program is within reach—and could be achieved rapidly,” Araghchi, who is leading the Iranian delegation at the talks, said in a statement published to X, formerly Twitter.
“That mutually beneficial outcome relies on the continuation of Iran’s enrichment program, under the full supervision of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], and the effective termination of sanctions,” he added.
The statement came as the Iranian Intelligence Ministry threatened to release a trove of documents purported to be tied to Israel’s own nuclear weapons, an arsenal that Israeli officials have for decades neither confirmed nor denied possessing. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council warned Israeli nuclear sites would be targeted in the event that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure was subject to attack.
On Wednesday, Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh warned U.S. military positions would also be hit in the event of a preemptive strike.
“Some officials on the other side threaten conflict if negotiations don’t come to fruition,” Nasirzadeh said, as cited by Reuters. “If a conflict is imposed on us … all U.S. bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries.”