Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 20
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran has rejected allegations about having any role in attacking the US warships near Yemen waters.
Claims on Iran’s role in missle attacks against the US warships in Red Sea are baseless, suspicious and fiction, Bahram Qasemi, spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry said, IRNA news agency reported Oct. 20.
He made the remarks in response to recent comments of US Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of US forces in the Middle East, who said on Oct. 19 that Iran may be behind missile strikes on US Navy ships fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.
"I do think that Iran is playing a role in some of this. They have a relationship with the Houthis, so I do suspect there is a role in that," said Votel.
Meanwhile Qasemi said that the US 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.”
Earlier in Oct. 15 it was reported that a US Navy destroyer was targeted in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, the third such incident in recent days.
Multiple surface-to-surface missiles were fired at the USS Mason sailing in international waters in the Red Sea but the warship used on-board countermeasures to defend itself and was not hit, one defense official said, Reuters reported.