Report: Russia May Give Houthis a Supersonic Antiship Missile

Iran is helping Yemen's Houthi rebels to negotiate with Russia on the possiblity of acquiring high-end supersonic antiship missiles, multiple sources told Reuters. Houthi officials likely met with Russian representatives in Tehran twice this year, and talks are ongoing. 

Iran is the primary sponsor and weapons supplier for the Houthi movement. U.S. forces have repeatedly intercepted Iranian antiship missile components aboard dhows bound for Houthi recipients in Yemen, and extensive open-source footage of the Houthi missile and drone inventory shows clear Iranian characteristics, even if Houthi forces claim that these weapons are indigenous.

Houthi forces have hit dozens of ships in the Red Sea, sinking two and damaging countless others in varying degrees. The risk is high enough to raise insurance rates and drive shipowners out of the Red Sea, but the majority of Houthi attacks fail to hit the target. Russian missile technology could change the equation, and Iran - which is a major weapons supplier for Russia's invasion of Ukraine - is well-placed to broker a deal.

According to Reuters, the Houthis would like to acquire the P-800 Oniks antiship missile. The Oniks (Onyx, Yakhont) was designed during the late years of the Cold War to engage NATO warships. It is a ramjet-powered missile capable of Mach 2 speeds, with a sea-skimming flight profile during terminal approach. It is in service with Russian coastal-defense batteries and on the Nakat-class missile ships, and has been used against ground targets in Ukraine with varying degrees of success. It is a comparatively modern design, and is the basis for the joint Russian-Indian BrahMos missile system.

Moscow has previously supplied Oniks antiship missiles to the Iranian-backed regime in Syria. Analysts have long believed that some of this Syrian missile inventory was transferred to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah - another Iranian proxy and a longtime opponent of Israel and the United States. 

Multiple sources told Reuters that it appears that Russia has not yet decided whether to export the Oniks to Houthi forces as well, though talks continue. If delivered, and paired with appropriate targeting, the system would give the Houthis a modern active-homing antiship missile that could reach anywhere in the southern Red Sea within as little as 90 seconds.