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Iran on strikes in Yemen against Houthis: ‘We warn US and UK…’
The strikes have heightened fears that Israel's war with Hamas could engulf the Middle East.
The United States and Britain needs to "stop the war against Yemen", Iran asserted following recent strikes on targets of Houthi rebels. US and UK hit scores of targets in Yemen after weeks of Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea as it said it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The strikes have heightened fears that Israel's war with Hamas could engulf the Middle East.
"We warn America and Britain to stop the war against Yemen immediately," Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said as he called on the United States and Israel "to stop the war against Gaza" and said Houthis "will block Israeli ships or ships bound for Israeli ports" as long as the war continues.
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Iran previously called the strikes on Yemen "arbitrary" and a "violation" of international law. The strikes follow Israel-Hamas war which erupted with unprecedented attacks by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7 that resulted in about 1,140 deaths, mostly civilians. Hamas seized about 250 hostages, 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza. Israel responded with a relentless military campaign that killed at least 24,100 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
The Houthis' attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted traffic along the vital trade route as Washington has accused Iran of being "deeply involved" in the Houthi attacks, a claim which Tehran has denied. Britain's foreign minister David Cameron also accused Iran of being a "malign actor in the region".
Meanwhile Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi said that the country sees it as "its duty to support the resistance groups", but insisted that they "are independent in their opinion, decision and action".
