Iran on Friday rejected any involvement in attacks carried out by Yemen’s Houthis, one day after Saudi Arabia said Tehran had encouraged the group’s recent escalation against the kingdom. Tehran’s response came as Riyadh reported fresh interceptions of missiles and drones aimed at its territory.
The pro-Iran Houthis have repeatedly hit Saudi targets since Yemen’s civil war reignited in July. Their strikes have included Red Sea tankers, oil facilities and Riyadh’s international airport, where 13 people died in a single attack last week.
Iran rejects Saudi claims of encouraging the Houthis
A Saudi foreign ministry official said on Thursday that Iran had “encouraged” the escalation, a charge Tehran dismissed. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement that the Islamic Republic “rejects any claim that Iran has played a role in Yemeni (Houthi) operations.”
Baqaei argued that Yemen’s armed forces act on their own interests and assessments, and said such accusations would not be considered credible by those who understand Tehran’s ties with its partners. He nonetheless said Iran did not view a rise in tensions as serving anyone’s interests.
The Saudi official, deputy minister for public diplomacy Dr. Rayed Krimly, had also said the Houthis turned down an offer to meet in Oman at the start of the latest round of fighting. Baqaei repeated Tehran’s readiness to act as a mediator, saying it “has always been ready to use its good offices to help end the hostilities.”
Saudi forces report new interceptions near Riyadh and Yanbu
On Friday, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition said forces had intercepted and destroyed three drones over the southern area and Riyadh, along with two cruise missiles over the Red Sea. He also said a ballistic missile had been downed over Yanbu, a city on the Red Sea coast that serves as the terminus of a major oil pipeline.
The coalition has backed Yemen’s internationally recognised government for more than a decade. The Houthi campaign against Saudi Arabia has grown since the group launched a rapid offensive in Yemen in September, seizing strategic government-held land along the Red Sea coast, which overlooks a key chokepoint for global shipping.
The pressure on Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, lands on energy markets already unsettled by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the wider Middle East war in February. Yemeni government forces have launched a counteroffensive with Saudi air support to recapture lost areas, but they have so far been unable to reverse the Houthi gains.
Missiles strike Aden airport and presidential palace
In Aden, the temporary seat of the government, the local security office said on Friday that two missiles landed inside the airport perimeter. It described this as the second such incident in less than a week and said no one had been killed.
A statement from the Yemeni information ministry said a Yemenia Airways flight from Aden to Cairo had narrowly avoided being hit while preparing for takeoff. According to that statement, the missiles landed about 500 metres from the aircraft and roughly 100 metres from the centre of the runway. The statement described the attack as a direct threat to passengers, flight crews and aviation safety.
A day earlier, a deadly missile strike hit the presidential palace in Aden, killing five people and wounding 16, according to the health minister. Yemeni Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani condemned the attack on X as “cowardly,” calling it a continuation of the Houthis’ “criminal pattern.” A government minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Houthis had struck command centres used by Yemeni and Saudi coalition forces inside the palace complex.
The Houthis, in a statement attributed to a military source, said their attack on Friday targeted “the Saudi forces’ command headquarters” and a weapons depot. Media linked to the group said the strike on the palace had aimed at the headquarters of military operations led by Saudi officers at Al-Maashiq Palace in Aden.
