Yemen’s Iranian-allied Houthi rebels on Tuesday attacked a Saudi Arabian airport and military base with a bomb-laden drone, an assault acknowledged by the kingdom as Middle East tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The attack on the city of Najran came after Iran announced that it has quadrupled its production of enriched uranium — although still at a level far lower than needed for atomic weapons — a year after the US withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Underlining the tensions, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is seeking expanded executive powers to better deal with the “economic war” triggered by the renewal of sanctions by the US, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“A person or a nation might be under pressure, but the Iranian nation will not bow to bullies,” Rouhani vowed in a televised speech on Tuesday.
By increasing production, Iran would soon exceed the stockpile limitations set by the nuclear accord. Tehran has set a July 7 deadline for Europe to put forth new terms for the deal, or it would enrich closer to weapons-grade levels in a Middle East already on edge.
The US has deployed bombers and an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf over still-unspecified threats from Iran, which is the biggest rival in the region to Saudi Arabia.
The Houthi-run Masirah TV said that in the drone attack, the Houthi rebels targeted the airport in Najran with a Qasef-2K drone, striking an “arms depot.”
Najran lies on the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border and has repeatedly been targeted by the Houthis.
A statement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi Arabian-led coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki as saying that the Houthis “had tried to target” a civilian site in Najran, without elaborating.
Al-Maliki said that there would be a “strong deterrent” to such attacks and described the Houthis as the “terrorist militias of Iran.”
Similar Houthi attacks have sparked Saudi Arabian-led airstrikes on Yemen, which have been widely criticized internationally for killing civilians.
Civilian airports across the Middle East often host military bases.
While “Iran’s behavior must change,” he urged the US not to engage in unilateral action and that the US “military must work to buy time for diplomats to work their magic.”
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