Saudi Arabia's deputy defense minister, Khalid bin Salman, Thursday accused Iran of ordering drone attacks on two of its oil pumping stations that were claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels.
Tuesday's "attack by the Iranian-backed Houthi militias against the two Aramco pumping stations proves that these militias are merely a tool that Iran's regime uses to implement its expansionist agenda in the region," the prince said on Twitter.
"The terrorist acts, ordered by the regime in Tehran, and carried out by the Houthis, are tightening the noose around the ongoing political efforts."
Warplanes from the Arab coalition struck Houthi targets in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Thursday, two days after the rebels claimed responsibility for the drone attacks that shut a key oil pipeline in the kingdom.
The rebels said Tuesday's attacks were a response to the coalition’s military campaign in Yemen.
The Saudi state minister for foreign affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir, said in a tweet on Thursday that the Houthis were "sacrificing the need of the Yemeni people for the benefit of Iran."
"The Houthis are an indivisible part of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corp... and subject to the IRGC's orders. This is confirmed by the Houthis targeting facilities in the kingdom."
The Arab coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to push back an advance by the rebels, who continue to hold the capital Sanaa, and to restore to power President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi.
Since then, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, relief agencies say.
It has triggered what the U.N. describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 24.1 million – more than two-thirds of the population – in need of aid.
Agencies
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