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Iran denies military aid to Yemen's Shiite Houthis

Xinhua, March 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iran's Foreign Ministry denied that the Islamic republic had helped the Yemeni Shiite militants with arms, Press TV reported on Tuesday.

"Claims about the dispatch of weapons from the Islamic republic of Iran to Yemen are completely fabricated and sheer lies," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham was quoted as saying.

Iran has only offered commercial and aviation cooperation to Yemen and dispatched consignments of medical aid and health products to the Arab country.

"Such allegations (of Iran's arms aid to the Yemeni militants) can never justify the military attack on Yemen," she added.

A Saudi-led military coalition launched airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen last Thursday, a day after Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin called for an Arab military interference during his meetings with his Arab counterparts in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh ahead of an Arab summit.

The Iranian spokeswoman also urged the international institutions, particularly the International Committee of the Red Cross, to help the affected people in Yemen following the Saudi-led air strikes against the country.

The coalition accused the Islamic republic of expanding its influence in the region by interfering in the domestic affairs of the regional countries, which Iran strongly denied. Endit