Tehran – Iran has called on the United States to end its support for Israel’s recent airstrikes on Yemen, accusing Israel of attempting to manipulate the conflict to derail negotiations over Tehran’s civil nuclear programme.
Tensions have intensified following Israeli airstrikes on Houthi-controlled regions of Yemen, including the port city of Hodeidah and the capital’s international airport.
According to Israeli officials, 20 warplanes were deployed on Monday to destroy what it described as key Houthi military infrastructure. The Houthis reported that four civilians were killed in the attack. On Tuesday, Israel followed up with strikes on Sana’a International Airport, warning civilians to evacuate the area.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, pointed to Iran’s role in arming the Houthi movement, a Shia group allied with Tehran, which launched a missile at Ben Gurion Airport on Saturday. The Houthis stated the attack was in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign there.
Iran, however, sees the escalation as a deliberate attempt by Israel to sabotage the upcoming US-Iran nuclear talks, scheduled to resume on Sunday. Israel remains staunchly opposed to any US-brokered agreement that allows Iran to maintain its domestic nuclear enrichment capacity. Netanyahu has long advocated for US cooperation in launching strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
In response to the recent developments, Iran’s foreign ministry issued a statement asserting that the Houthi movement operates independently and is not a proxy force.
“The repetition of baseless claims attributing the courageous actions of the Yemeni people in self-defense and support for the Palestinian people to Iran is an insult to this powerful and oppressed nation,” the statement read. “It is the US army, in support of the Zionist regime’s genocide, that has entered the war against the Yemeni people and is committing war crimes by targeting infrastructure and civilian areas.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi directly accused Netanyahu of interfering in US foreign policy. “Netanyahu is brazenly trying to dictate to President Trump what he can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran. The world has learned how Netanyahu directly interferes in the US government to lead it toward another disaster in our region,” he said.
Araghchi further warned that “the Netanyahu minority in America,” whom he described as opponents of diplomacy, have exposed their true agenda. “The world should take note of what their real priorities are,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei also condemned the strikes, calling them “a blatant crime and a gross violation of international law.” He urged regional and global powers to “stop the killing and destruction America and Israel are committing in Islamic countries.”
The conflict in Yemen, divided since 2015 between the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and the UN-recognized government based in Aden, has become a new flashpoint complicating Iran’s diplomatic efforts. Though Iran’s conservative media widely celebrates Houthi support for Gaza, numerous UN reports have documented Tehran’s military aid to the group.
This association with the Houthis provides ammunition to US Republican hardliners, who argue that Iran’s support for resistance groups across the region must be addressed as part of the nuclear negotiations. Iran maintains that the talks should focus exclusively on the terms for monitoring its civil nuclear programme and the lifting of international sanctions.
Conflicting messages from the Trump administration in recent weeks—particularly regarding whether Iran must abandon its uranium enrichment—have further unsettled Tehran. Araghchi emphasized that Iran’s right to enrich uranium domestically is non-negotiable. “The right to enrichment is enshrined for many signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This is a red line for us,” he declared.
As negotiations near, the escalating violence in Yemen and rising rhetoric between regional powers underscore the fragile diplomatic landscape surrounding Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
