Iran denies "possible role" in attacking U.S. warships in Red Sea

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman on Thursday denied any possible role in the recent rocket attacks on U.S. warships in the Red Sea near Yemen waters, official IRNA news agency reported.

The spokesman Bahram Qasemi was responding to allegations by a U.S. army official who said Iran may have played a role in recent missile attacks against U.S. warships in the Red Sea.

On Wednesday, Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, said that Iran may be behind recent missile attacks by Shiite Yemeni Houthi militants on U.S. Navy ships.

"I do think that Iran is playing a role in some of this," said Votel. "They have a relationship with the Houthis, so I do suspect there is a role in that."

Qasemi described Votel's remarks as an "unreal, suspicious and baseless piece of fiction that manifests their confusion."

He said the U.S. government should be much more careful about the "measures taken by those who have sunk themselves in the cruel war against the Yemenis and try to increase the tension and expand the war in order to rescue themselves."

On Oct. 12, the Pentagon announced that the U.S. military struck three radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast.

A Pentagon statement described the air raid as "limited self-defense strikes," saying the radar sites targetted were "involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb."

Yemen's Houthi rebels have repeatedly denied targeting U.S. warships from territories they control.

"These allegations were baseless and the army as well popular forces have nothing to do with targeting the U.S. ship," the Houthis said in an Oct. 13 statement carried by Saba, a news agency under Houthi control. Endit