Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister has rejected US accusations that his country was "deeply involved" in attacks by Yemeni forces on Israel-linked commercial ships travelling across the Red Sea.
"The resistance has its own tools... and acts in accordance with its own decisions and capabilities," Ali Bagheri was cited by Mehr news agency as saying.
"The fact that certain powers, such as the Americans and the Israelis, suffer strikes from the resistance movement... should in no way call into question the reality of the strength of the resistance in the region," he added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian also earlier dismissed US accusations of Tehran’s involvement in attacks by Houthis on commercial ships. “The accusation is baseless,” Amirabdollahian said at a news conference in Tehran. He added that the attacks in the Red Sea are “a completely Yemeni decision in support and defense of Gaza.”
“We frankly told the US side that they [Ansarallah] made the decision according to their own position. We never ordered them to do anything. Neither will we order them to stop taking action,” the minister said.
He also reiterated the warning that the waterway would remain unsafe as long as Israel presses ahead with its war on Hamas in Gaza.
“For us, regional security is very important. We are not seeking to expand the scope of war," Amirabdollahian noted. "The solution to the problem is not to establish a so-called ‘coalition’ in the Red Sea, but to stop the bloodshed of women, children and civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
Earlier in the month, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated that the Houthis were "independent in their opinion, decision and action." Iran, unfailingly open about its political and moral support for the Houthis, has consistently denied claims by US officials of the provision of either material or military support to the Yemeni militia.
On Saturday, the Pentagon openly accused Iran of targeting ships amid further escalation of the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
The US Defense Department issued a statement claiming that the Japanese-owned chemical tanker Chem Pluto that was struck off the coast of India was targeted “by a one-way attack drone fired from Iran." The ship was transporting crude oil from Saudi Arabia to India.
The attack on the vessel, sailing under a Liberian flag of convenience and operated by a Dutch entity, reportedly took place around 10 am local time. The explosion caused a fire which was soon extinguished, and there were no casualties aboard. Indian Navy ships came to the vessel's aid.
On December 18, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of a multinational operation to secure the Red Sea amid the surge in Yemeni attacks on cargo ships owned by Israeli firms or sailing to or from Israeli ports.
"I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea," Austin stated.
Austin claimed that the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles, and Spain would play roles in the mission, although France and Spain have since declared that their ships are operating independently.
The Yemeni armed forces have vowed to respond to any aggression, warning the nascent US-led coalition that they have “multiple options” to continue targeting Israel if the IDF’s operations in Gaza are not brought to a halt.
“If the Zionist regime does not stop its assaults on Gaza or anywhere else across the Palestinian lands and doesn’t lift its siege, our forces will exercise more options,” Major General Mohammad Nasser al-Atifi, the Yemeni National Salvation Government's defense minister, warned in a speech on Friday.
The Houthis have managed to effectively shut down the Red Sea to Israeli-owned and Israeli-bound maritime traffic, Seizing at least one ship and launching several drone and missile attacks on commercial carriers over the past month. They have vowed to continue their campaign against Israel, warning that they reserve the right to start attacking coalition warships if attacked themselves.