Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday Yemenis targeted Saudi oil facilities as a “warning” about a possible wider war in response to the kingdom’s US-backed intervention in their conflict-ravaged country.
“The Yemenis... Haven’t hit a hospital, they haven’t hit a school, they haven’t hit Sanaa bazaar. They just hit an industrial centre... To warn you,” Rouhani said after a cabinet meeting.
“Learn lessons from this warning and consider that there could be a war in the region,” he said, in a likely address to the rulers of Saudi Arabia which has spent billions of dollars on US weapons.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the strikes but a US official said Tuesday that the administration of President Donald Trump concluded the attacks involved cruise missiles from Iran.
Saudi Arabia, which has been bogged down in a five-year war in Yemen, has said the weapons used in the attacks were Iranian-made but has not directly blamed its regional arch-rival.
Tehran has repeatedly denied accusations from Washington and Riyadh that it arms the Houthis.
