Iran on Thursday denied sending weapons to Yemen’s Houthis a day after the US military said Yemeni forces made the largest-ever seizure of conventional Iranian arms bound for the Tehran-backed group.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei on Thursday called the claim "baseless and part of a media campaign against Iran.”
Yemeni forces fighting the Iran-backed Houthi movement have carried out their largest ever seizure of advanced Iranian conventional weapons bound for the group, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday.
CENTCOM said the National Resistance Forces (NRF) confiscated over 750 tons of advanced weaponry including anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, warheads, hundreds of drone engines, air defense equipment, radar systems and communications equipment.
The NRF is an anti-Houthi force led by General Tareq Saleh, nephew of Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and operates independently of the internationally recognized government.
CENTCOM added that many of the systems were manufactured by a company affiliated with Iran’s defense ministry and included manuals in Farsi.
“We commend the legitimate government forces of Yemen who continue to interdict the flow of Iranian munitions bound for the Houthis," General Michael Erik Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM said in a statement.
"The interdiction of this massive Iranian shipment shows that Iran remains the most destabilizing actor in the region. Limiting the free flow of Iranian support to the Houthis is critic to regional security, stability, and freedom of navigation,” he added.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, Yemen’s Houthis have launched missiles, rockets, and drones toward Israel and enforced a maritime disruption in the Red Sea, in what it describes as support for Palestinians in Gaza.
Last month, the group's rivals in Yemeni government said that Iran is transferring parts of its military industry, including ballistic missile and drone production to Houthi-controlled areas in Saada, Hajjah, and the outskirts of Sanaa.
The Houthis resumed attacks on the high seas following a June 24 ceasefire ending a 12-day war between Israel and Iran.
Houthi forces sank a Liberian-flagged carrier on July 6 with rockets and explosive drone boats. The group, which controls most of Yemen's population centers, says its maritime attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
