Yemen Monitor/Tehran/Agencies:
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the recent U.S. military strikes on Yemen, describing them as “a crime that must stop.”
Earlier in the week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the start of a military operation targeting the Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen, aimed at reducing the armed movement’s ability to target shipping.
In a televised statement released on Thursday, Khamenei criticized the attacks on the Houthi militia, warning of the need to prevent them. His statements come amid escalating regional tensions following the resumption of the Israeli occupation’s brutal war on the Gaza Strip.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that what he described as “the attack on the Yemeni people, on Yemeni civilians, is a crime that must be stopped.”
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on social media: “We have inflicted severe damage on the barbaric Houthis, and see how it will gradually get worse – it’s not a fair fight, and it never will be. They will be completely annihilated!”
Earlier, Trump said that his administration would consider any shot fired by the Houthis at U.S. ships and the Navy as a shot fired by Iranian weapons and leadership.
Washington confirmed that its recent strikes in Yemen targeted a number of senior Houthi officials and resulted in their deaths. However, the Houthi-affiliated Ministry of Health reported that at least 53 people were killed and nearly 100 others were injured in the attacks. These strikes are the first U.S. military intervention in Yemen since President Donald Trump took office in January.
