Yemen has arrested several members of an Iranian-led spy ring that has been operating in the country for several years, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
It said the spy ring had been operating in the Horn of Africa region using Yemeni capital Sanaa as its base. Those arrested included a former commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
Although the Ministry did not disclose further details about the espionage, local media reports cited unnamed officials as saying that most of the arrested ring members were Yemeni nationals.
Soon after the arrests were announced, Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi warned that Tehran would be made to pay a "heavy price" if it continued to meddle with Yemen's internal affairs.
Hadi was quoted by the official SABA news agency as saying that Iran must "take into consideration the delicate circumstances the country is passing through ... We say from here to leave Yemen to mind its own affairs and that is enough for now."
Notably, Hadi's remarks echoes continued U.S. allegations that Iran has been instigating a sectarian unrest by the Shia community in northern Yemen and supporting a separatist insurgency movement in the country's south as part of its efforts to undermine Saudi Arabia's influence in the region. Iran strongly denies the allegations.
The United States appears to have increased its drone attacks on al-Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen's southern and south-eastern regions, supporting Yemeni government's ongoing anti-militant offensives there.
Yemeni security forces, backed by U.S. drone strikes and armed tribesmen, have managed in recent weeks to recapture some of the areas seized earlier by the Islamist militants. Notably, the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants had established themselves in the region by taking advantage of the instability triggered by the year-long uprising that eventually ousted former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saleh stepped down in February last under a peace initiative mediated by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Currently, President Hadi's government is attempting to enforce order in the largely lawless country with the help of the United States and allied tribesmen.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.