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Securitisation imperatives and the exaggeration of Iranian involvement with the Houthi movement by international actors

Walsh, Tom

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Authors

Thomas Walsh tom.j.walsh@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy



Abstract

Through examination of elite-level discourse between 2014 and 2015, this paper argues that the exaggeration of Iranian involvement with the Houthis served to justify the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. Ironically, this had the effect of benefiting Iran, as Riyadh moved their attention away from Iranian priorities in Syria, undermined their own international credibility and spent billions of dollars on this unwinnable conflict. Iran, Saudi Arabia (KSA) and some Western actors pushed the narrative that the Houthis were deeply connected with the Islamic Republic. While Iranian support was negligible during this period, Iran sought to increase Saudi insecurity through rhetorical support for the Houthis. Riyadh, keen to protect their interests in Yemen, over-exaggerated this connection to justify their airstrikes and blockades, which began with Operation Decisive Storm (ODS) on March 25, 2015. Certain Western actors, sharing similar regional geopolitical priorities, adopted this narrative. This validated their support for the Saudi-led intervention. This, in turn, has had devastating consequences for the people of Yemen. With these dynamics in mind, the paper asks three research questions: Was the Saudi-led over-exaggeration of Iranian involvement successful in securitising ODS to international audiences? Was ‘Iranian involvement’ over-exaggerated? Who ultimately benefited from this narrative?

Citation

Walsh, T. (2023). Securitisation imperatives and the exaggeration of Iranian involvement with the Houthi movement by international actors. Global Policy, https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13204

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 14, 2023
Online Publication Date Apr 7, 2023
Publication Date 2023
Deposit Date Apr 20, 2023
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Global Policy
Print ISSN 1758-5880
Electronic ISSN 1758-5899
Publisher Durham University
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13204

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Author. Global Policy published by Durham University and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.




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