US blames Iran for supplying missile shot down over Saudi Arabia
Iran's President Rouhani says rebels in Yemen fired the missile at Riyadh because of Saudi Arabian aggression.
Wednesday 8 November 2017 16:57, UK
The US has joined Saudi Arabia in blaming Iran for a missile that was shot down near Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it had shot down a ballistic missile fired over its capital from Yemen.
The country's military accused Iran of supplying the weapon to Houthi rebels, who Saudi forces have been battling in an attempt to support Yemen's official government.
No one was hurt as the missile broke up and fell on an unpopulated area near Riyadh's airport, but analysts said it was unlikely such a weapon could have come from any other source but Iran.
The White House said in a statement that the US condemned Iran's activities and stood with Saudi Arabia and others against Iranian aggression and "blatant" violations of international law.
The White House said: "Houthi missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, enabled by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, threaten regional security and undermine UN efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.
"These missile systems were not present in Yemen before the conflict, and we call upon the United Nations to conduct a thorough examination of evidence that the Iranian regime is perpetuating the war in Yemen to advance its regional ambitions."
Iran hit back with President Hassan Rouhani justifying the rocket attack, claiming the Houthis were responding to Saudi aggression.
Mr Rouhani retaliated: "The United States and their allies have mobilised all their capabilities against us and achieved nothing."
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis has closed all air, land and sea ports into and out of Yemen in reaction to the missile launch.
It also increased the number of air strikes it was carrying out on areas controlled by the Houthis, including the capital Sanaa.
The ramping up of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran over Yemen comes as the Saudi king and crown prince continue to tighten their grip on the oil-rich nation.
Saudi authorities have made further arrests in an anti-corruption crackdown on the kingdom's political and business elite, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
Eleven princes, including billionaire businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, as well as dozens of current and former ministers, were detained on Sunday.
The latest to be held included individuals with links to the immediate family of the late crown prince and defence minister Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz who died in 2011, the sources said.
Human Rights Watch has claimed the arrests are more likely to be a case of internal power politics, and some Western officials have also expressed unease.
Many of those arrested are believed to be detained at the luxurious Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh.
Meanwhile, officials told Associated Press that Saudi Arabia is preventing Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his entourage from returning to Yemen from exile.
The ban, which is said to have come as support for the official government in southern Yemen weakens, was prompted by the bitter enmity between Hadi and the United Arab Emirates, the source said,
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the war in Yemen and cholera is rife in the country where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.
The United Nations says seven million people are facing famine.