TEHRAN, Dec  23, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Iran's deputy foreign minister on
Saturday dismissed US accusations that Tehran was involved in attacks by Yemeni
rebels on commercial ships, saying the group was acting on its own.
       Yemen's Iran-aligned Huthi rebels have launched more than 100 drone and
missile attacks, targeting 10 merchant vessels in the Red Sea, according to the
Pentagon, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling
Hamas militants.
       On Friday, the White House publicly released US intelligence that Iran
provided drones, missiles, and tactical intelligence to the Huthis, who control
vast parts of Yemen including the capital, Sanaa.  
       "The resistance (Huthis) has its own tools... and acts in accordance with
its own decisions and capabilities," Iran's deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri
told Mehr news agency.
       "The fact that certain powers, such as the Americans and the Israelis,
suffer strikes from the resistance movement... should in no way call into
question the reality of the strength of the resistance in the region.," he
added.
       The Gaza Strip has endured 11 weeks of Israeli air and ground attacks that
killed more than 20,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the
health ministry in the Hamas-run coastal territory.
       Israel has vowed to crush Hamas after the Palestinian militant group
carried out a cross-border attack on October 7 that killed around 1,140 people
in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
       Palestinian militants also abducted about 250 people, 129 of whom Israel
says remain in Gaza.
       Iran, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, has hailed the
October 7 attack on Israel but denied any involvement.
       The Islamic republic has repeatedly warned of a widening conflict, and last
month, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the intensity of the war
has rendered its expansion "inevitable".
       President Ebrahim Raisi has said Iran sees it as "its duty to support the
resistance groups" but insisted that they "are independent in their opinion,
decision and action".
       Last month, Tehran dismissed as "invalid" Israel's accusations that Huthi
rebels were acting on Tehran's "guidance" when they seized a Red Sea ship owned
by an Israeli businessman.