Iran on Tuesday rejected accusations that it was responsible for “military aggression” in Saudi Arabia, after a missile was launched into the kingdom from neighbouring Yemen.
“These insinuations are false, destructive, irresponsible and, above all, provocative,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi, according to Iranian media.
Instead of further aggravating the situation with such “absurd allegations,” the Saudis should help through diplomatic channels to end violence in Yemen, Ghassemi said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif said: “the Saudis are acting like hooligans in the region, are making the region unsafe and then end up trying to blame Iran for their dangerous policy.”
Tehran’s Defence Ministry and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard also denied any involvement in the missile attack.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Salman had earlier accused Iran of carrying out “direct military
aggression” against Saudi Arabia, accusing Tehran of supplying Yemen’s Houthi rebels, against whom Riyadh is
fighting, with missiles.
On Saturday, a missile was fired across the border from Yemen towards the Saudi capital Riyadh.
“The crown prince stressed that the involvement of the Iranian regime in supplying its Houthi militias with missiles is considered a direct military aggression,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
In remarks during a phone call with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, he said the missile attack “could amount to an act of war against the kingdom,” SPA added.
On Sunday, the Saudi-led alliance fighting the Houthi rebels said it closed all Yemeni ports, prompting national carrier Yemen Airways to halt all flights from Aden and Seiyun airports, the only two functioning airports in the country, after failing to get permits to operate.
Yemen has been locked in a devastating power struggle between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran- allied Houthis since the rebels took over the Yemeni capital Sana’a in late 2014.
The conflict has intensified since March 2015, when the Houthis first advanced on Aden, prompting Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies to start an air campaign against the Shiite group.
SOURCE:PM NEWS NIGERIA
