Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Thursday rejected the recent comments by US General Joseph Votel as an imaginary, suspicious and baseless story, saying the paradoxical and vague remarks by American officials over the past days signify Washington’s bewilderment.
The reaction came after Votel, head of the US military’s Central Command overseeing operations across the Middle East, told a Washington think tank on Wednesday that Iran may have played a role in a series of incidents this month that saw surface-to-surface missiles fired at the USS Mason in the Red Sea allegedly by Yemen’s Houthi forces.
Elsewhere in his comments, the Iranian spokesman recommended that US government take care of the conduct of those mired in Yemen after a “brutal and imposed aggression” against the Arab country.
The US military, which has played an undeniable role in the crimes against Yemeni people by providing direct and indirect support for the Saudi-led military coalition, should prevent more bloodshed and halt the killing of Yemenis by its allies, he concluded.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been launching airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
According to UN estimates, over 10,000 Yemenis, including 4,000 women and children, have lost their lives in the military campaign.
On October 8 alone, Saudi-led warplanes killed over 140 people and injured more than 600 others by bombing a crowded funeral ceremony in Sana’a.