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Yemen's internationally recognised government has accused the Tehran-aligned Houthi movement of converting Iranian air defence systems into loitering cruise missiles, with technical support from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The allegation, levelled by the Saudi-backed administration, raises fresh concerns about the safety of civilian aviation over Yemen and the strategically vital Red Sea corridor.
Brigadier General Majed al-Nazili, a spokesperson for Yemeni government forces, said the repurposed weapons pose a hazard to every aircraft in the region's skies. He claimed the missiles have been adapted by IRGC specialists and are now being deployed against aircraft and cruise missiles alike.
According to al-Nazili, each weapon can remain airborne for as long as 25 minutes and relies on a thermal-tracking system to home in on heat sources. He said the missiles cannot discriminate between military and civilian targets, describing the capability as "a direct and serious threat to the safety of civil aviation and the lives of passengers."
The Yemeni official further warned that United Nations and humanitarian aircraft operating on routes over Yemen and neighbouring areas could find themselves at risk. He argued that turning the airspace above the southern Red Sea into a danger zone represents an escalation extending well beyond Yemen's own borders.
Al-Nazili linked the development to recent rhetoric from Iranian officials, naming Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, who had threatened to target aviation services in the region after Washington sanctioned Iranian airlines. Rezaei initially warned that regional airports could lose flights if they cooperated with US restrictions, though his office later clarified that Tehran was not preparing military retaliation, while noting that nonmilitary countermeasures against specific airports remained possible.
The Yemeni government contends that the use of Iranian weaponry launched from Yemeni soil endangers international air navigation routes and should not be treated as an internal Yemeni matter. Al-Nazili called on international authorities to respond with urgency and decisiveness.
The allegations come amid a sharp resurgence in fighting. The Houthis have intensified attacks on Saudi Arabia while battling Yemeni government forces, and on Thursday Riyadh reported intercepting six ballistic missiles targeting Taif in western Saudi Arabia and the Yanbu port area on the Red Sea. The Houthis separately claimed to have struck what they described as a sensitive target in Riyadh, along with Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group used ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones in the two operations.
The Houthis fought Yemen's government and a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states from 2014 until a UN-brokered ceasefire took hold in 2022. Hostilities have reignited in recent weeks, with the group seizing Yemen's Red Sea coastline, the strategically important city of Mocha and Mayyun Island in the Bab al-Mandeb strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. In July, the armed group declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, opening another front in the wider US-Israel war on Iran.
The timing is significant for global energy flows. Since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict, the Red Sea has emerged as a critical alternative export route for Saudi Arabia, the region's largest oil producer. The kingdom's East-West Pipeline, which transports crude from eastern oilfields to the western port of Yanbu, is only now resuming operations after damage from a drone strike earlier this month.
On the question of whether the Houthis have genuinely modified an Iranian air defence system, experts remain cautious. Eleonora Ardemagni, a senior associate research fellow at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, told Al Jazeera there is no conclusive evidence of such a conversion, but said a series of indicators mean it cannot be dismissed. She noted that the Houthis have repeatedly shown an ability to innovate despite the conditions of war, making the evolution of their threat capabilities a constant feature of the conflict.
Ardemagni added that years of research have established that the Houthis do not receive fully assembled missiles from Iran. Instead, they import Iranian-origin components and assemble the weapons themselves, giving them considerable technical expertise in weapons production. That domestic assembly capacity, she suggested, is precisely what makes an adaptation of this kind plausible.
The broader implications stretch beyond Yemen's battlefields. If the Houthis can field loitering cruise missiles capable of tracking heat signatures, commercial carriers and aid flights may be forced to reroute or suspend operations over a waterway that carries a substantial share of global trade. Insurance costs for shipping and aviation could climb, further complicating an already fragile regional economy.
For Riyadh, the threat compounds existing pressure on its oil infrastructure and export terminals. The reported interception of missiles aimed at Taif and Yanbu underlines how deeply the conflict has penetrated Saudi territory, even as the kingdom tries to restart pipeline operations and reassure energy markets. For the Houthis, demonstrating advanced missile capabilities serves both a military and a political purpose, signalling that their arsenal continues to mature despite years of war and international isolation.
The Yemeni government's appeal to international bodies reflects a growing sense that the conflict's spillover effects, from maritime security to civil aviation, demand a coordinated response. Whether the allegations of modified Iranian systems are fully verified or not, the episode illustrates how quickly Yemen's war can reshape the risk calculus for the Red Sea region and the wider world.
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