Update: Iran's supreme leader vows to support Yemeni people

Iran will support the oppressed in the world, including the people of Yemen, Iran's supreme leader said on Saturday, according to the official IRNA news agency.

"Today, Yemen is the scene of the massacre of innocent children and women. On the surface level, Muslims are introduced as the cause, but the main cause and perpetrator is the United States," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying.

"The people of Yemen, Bahrain and Palestine are oppressed and Iran will support them with all its strength," he said, adding that "the Iranian nation will cooperate with all those in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the occupied lands of Palestinians who counter the dangerous terrorists and the Zionists of Israel."

The United States supports terrorist groups in Syria and it supports Israel which has put the Palestinians under pressure, he said.

In words, the United States claims for fighting terrorism, but actually it is the "sponsor of terrorism" in the region, he added.

Iran has fought terrorism, and the Iranians and Muslim world should know that the Islamic republic can withstand the terrorists and their supporters, he pointed out.

"The security of Persian Gulf is in the interest of all its neighbors. If it is secure, all will benefit. But, if the security is violated, it will be insecure for all," he said on the occasion of Prophet Muhammad's appointment to the Prophetic Mission.

Maintaining the security for Persian Gulf is the responsibility of those who consider it as their home, Khamenei said, adding that the United States is after its own interests in Persian Gulf and will make it insecure when deems it necessary.

Iran fired at a Singapore-flagged commercial vessel on Thursday for hitting an Iranian oil rig in the Persian Gulf and fleeing, local media reported.

The incident came two weeks after Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship, coded Maersk Tigris, and held the vessel over a separate financial dispute. Endit