‘Act of war’

Jeddah : Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has accused Iranian regime of direct military aggression against Saudi Arabia by supplying its Houthi militias with missiles, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The Crown Prince linked Tehran to the launch of a ballistic missile fired from Yemen towards the international airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Saturday. The missile was intercepted and destroyed.

“The involvement of the Iranian regime in supplying its Houthi militias with missiles is considered a direct military aggression by the Iranian regime and may be considered an act of war against the Kingdom,” the crown prince was quoted as saying during a telephone conversation with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

During the conversation, Johnson expressed his condemnation of the Iranian-allied Houthis launching a ballistic missile on Riyadh and denounced the deliberate targeting of civilians.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition said in a statement on Monday that the ballistic missiles being fired by Houthis from Yemen toward Saudi Arabia, including the one intercepted over Riyadh on Saturday night, were manufactured in Iran.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir also said that Saudi Arabia reserves the right to respond to hostile acts against it by Iran.

Johnson affirmed his country’s stand with the Kingdom in confronting security threats. The two leaders also reviewed regional and international developments.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the advances of Houthis in Yemen, said that an examination of the debris, which landed inside the King Khalid International Airport, has confirmed the role of Iran’s regime in manufacturing these missiles and smuggling them to the Houthi militias in Yemen.

It said the missile firing was “a blatant act of military aggression by the Iranian regime” and that the kingdom reserves the “right to respond.”