Iran Denies Role in Houthi Attacks on Saudi Arabia Today

Iran – (Special Correspondent/Web Desk) – Iran denies role in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying the group makes its own choices. Tehran gave its answer on Friday, one day after Riyadh said Iran had pushed the Houthis toward more violence.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, rejected the Saudi claim in a written statement. He said Yemen’s armed forces act on their own interests and judgment.

He added that anyone who understands Iran’s ties with its friends would not believe such talk.

Baqaei also said Iran does not want tensions to grow, because no side gains from it. He repeated that Tehran is ready to help end the fighting through talks.

Saudi Arabia Points the Finger

On Thursday, Saudi deputy minister for public diplomacy Dr Rayed Krimly said Iran keeps arming, training and backing the Houthis. He said this goes against UN Security Council resolutions.

He also said the Houthis refused an offer to meet in Oman when the latest round of fighting began.

Attacks on Saudi Targets

Yemen’s civil war flared up again in July. Since then, the Houthis have hit Saudi targets many times. These include tankers in the Red Sea, oil sites and Riyadh’s international airport.

Last week, one attack at the airport killed 13 people. The Saudi-led coalition says the airport has been targeted at least 20 times this month.

On Friday, the coalition said it shot down three drones over the south and Riyadh. It also destroyed two cruise missiles over the Red Sea.

In the past hours, it said, it also stopped a ballistic missile over Yanbu. This Red Sea city is home to the end point of a major oil pipeline.

The violence has also reached Aden, the government’s interim capital. On Friday, the local security office said two missiles landed inside the airport grounds. No one was killed.

It was the second such case in less than a week. The Houthis said they aimed at the Saudi forces’ command headquarters and a weapons depot.

A day earlier, a Houthi missile struck the presidential palace in Aden. The health minister said five people died and 16 were wounded.

Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani called the strike cowardly in a post on X. A government minister said the palace complex holds command centres for Yemeni and Saudi coalition forces.

Houthi-linked media said the target was a military operations headquarters led by Saudi officers at Al-Maashiq Palace.

UN Condemns the Escalation

The UN Security Council on Thursday strongly condemned the growing Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. It also condemned threats to ships in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the southern gateway to the Suez Canal.

The council also called the strikes on Riyadh’s airport reckless.

The Houthis launched a sudden offensive in September. They took key land from government forces along the Red Sea coast, close to a major chokepoint for world shipping.

Government forces have started a counteroffensive with Saudi air support. So far, they have not been able to win back the lost areas.

The pressure on Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, comes at a tense time. Energy markets are already shaken after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz when the wider Middle East war began in February.