Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi (file photo)
Iran has rejected “destructive, irresponsible, provocative and baseless” allegations leveled by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, accusing Tehran of being behind a Saturday missile attack on Riyadh.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi made the remarks on Monday after the coalition, which includes a number of Saudi Arabia’s vassal states under its command, said in a statement earlier in the day that Iran was to blame for a Yemeni missile strike on Riyadh.
He pointed to Saudi war crimes and acts of aggression against Yemen, saying that Yemenis had showed an “independent” reaction to Saudi attacks that was not rooted in another country’s measures or provocations.
The Saudis, who have failed to achieve their ominous objectives through a long-term war in Yemen, have leveled “delusive, baseless and totally false” accusations against Tehran by launching an inept and inapt psychological campaign, but through such measures, they are only creating more obstacles in the path of their failing coalition, Qassemi said.
The Iranian spokesperson urged the Saudis to stop playing a blame game as well as leveling unfounded accusations against others and carrying out attacks on innocent and defenseless Yemeni people as soon as possible.
They had better prepare the ground for Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue and the establishment of peace in the impoverished country, Qassemi said.
Following a missile strike from neighboring Yemen, Saudi Arabia ramped up threats against Iran, saying there would be a response “in the appropriate time and manner.”
That missile was fired by the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which together with allied Yemeni army factions and tribal fighters has been fighting off the Saudi-led coalition. Riyadh and its allies accuse the Houthis of receiving financial and arms support from Iran. The Islamic Republic rejects the accusations.
The Saudi-led coalition went further in its Sunday statement, claiming that the Houthis were under Iran’s “direct command.”
The chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari on Sunday dismissed as “baseless” the allegations leveled by US President Donald Trump about the Islamic Republic’s provision of missiles to Yemeni forces.
“Trump’s claims about providing Yemen with missiles by the Islamic Republic of Iran are baseless,” Jafari said on Sunday.
He added that Iran had no means of transferring missiles to Yemen, noting that missiles used by Yemeni forces belonged to themselves and they had only increased their range.
