Syrian and Iranian drug manufacturers have shifted their activities to Yemen after the overthrow of the Assad dynasty last year, according to a global anti-drug body and a Yemeni official cited by AFP on Thursday.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government recently seized 447 kilograms of narcotics and performance-enhancing substances – largely amphetamine-based – during coordinated raids carried out on land and at sea.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Gunter Younger told the agency that the seizure was “a landmark moment,” saying it shows law-enforcement bodies are now taking the trafficking of banned substances far more seriously.
WADA and Yemeni officials assessed, AFP reported, that a safe haven for drugs production in Syria had collapsed with the fall of Bashar al-Assad to rebel forces in December and that the lawless Arabian Peninsula country was taking its place.
"Iran is the one that provided the experts with financial support and modern equipment, and investigations have proven this, as well as the experts' confessions," Major Murad al-Radwany, Interpol's Yemen-based internal security coordinator told AFP on Thursday.
Yemen's internationally-recognized government is at war with the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which controls most of the country's population centers.
Iranian-backed production and smuggling
The dismantled facility was “the first factory to be set up in Yemen and equipped with the latest modern devices,” Radwany said.
The builders, he said, planned to open additional labs in other cities to produce stimulants for export.
"The Houthis consider it a source of income, facilitating smuggling to neighboring countries,” he added.
"Iran also benefits from this, and its goal is to export drugs and stimulants to Arab countries and destabilize security and stability in Yemen and neighboring countries."
This aligns with earlier reports, which has documented how the collapse of central government control in Syria turned that country – long a global hub for the amphetamine-based drug Captagon – into a major production center. Iran-backed militias and regional proxy groups, according to those reports, have helped smuggle Captagon into Persian Gulf states, fueling instability and militia financing.
A 2025 case in Syria saw the arrest of a militia leader linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on charges of drug trafficking and antiquities smuggling.
Iran’s response
In response to the allegations, an Iranian foreign-ministry spokesperson told AFP that the accusations are “unfounded.”
Nonetheless, the mounting drug busts and associated intelligence suggest a widening spotlight on Iran’s involvement in regional narcotics – with growing calls for independent investigation and international scrutiny.
