Iran strongly denied on Wednesday that it had supplied weapons to Yemeni rebels which they used in attacks on Saudi Arabia as alleged by both Riyadh and Washington. “We have no arms link with Yemen,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told the ISNA news agency, after Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted a rebel missile over Riyadh on Tuesday that it suggested was made by Iran.
The attack aimed at the heart of Saudi power follows the downing of another missile last month near Riyadh airport that triggered the tightening of a Saudi-led blockade on hunger-stricken Yemen. Weapons used by the rebels are leftovers of previous governments, Mr. Ghasemi said.
Meanwhile, the coalition said it would keep the Houthi-controlled Hodeidah port open for a month but it kept up air strikes that killed at least nine people.
The Saudis say the Red Sea port, which is Yemen's main entry point for food and humanitarian supplies, is also a hub used by the Iran-allied Houthi rebels to bring in weapons.
