Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 8
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran rejected media reports about closure of the Islamic Republic embassy to Sanaa.
The embassy continues its ordinary activities, Marzieh Afkham, the spokeswoman of the Iranian foreign ministry said, the country's semi-official Fars news agency reported Sept. 8.
However the Iranian ambassador to Yemen returned to Tehran yesterday for annual vacation, Afkham underlined.
She further rejected Yemen's foreign minister, Riyadh Yassin's comments about providing financial, strategic, and military advisory support to the Houthi group by Iranian embassy.
This wrong information aims to distort the realities in Yemen, lowering the role of Yemeni people and groups in the fight against foreign aggressors and terrorists, Afkham said.
In an interview to Asharq Al-Awsat, Yassin said Iran's embassy in Sanaa had become a "Houthi operations room" and that Iranian intelligence and military experts at the embassy were helping the Houthis plan attacks against government loyalists and forces from the Saudi-led coalition targeting the group.
He added that the embassy is "equipped with resources not even the Yemeni government is in possession of" and that it was also being used to distribute financial support to the Houthi militias currently stationed in different parts of the country.
A Saudi Arabia-led coalition started military operation in Yemen last March to oust the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthis, who have taken most of the country and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia accuses the Islamic Republic of providing military support to the Yemeni Shiite rebels, something that Tehran denies.
Edited by CN
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