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- Supreme Leader Declares “Entire Nation Acts Like Fierce Fist to Defend Against Invaders”
As Iran’s regime celebrated Army Day on Saturday, military commanders struck a tough pose over the crisis in Yemen, highlighting the despatch of an Iranian “fleet” — a destroyer and a support vessel — to an international waterway off the Yemeni coast.
Tehran has stepped up its rhetoric over the Yemeni civil war, presenting both a four-point plan to resolve the crisis and vehement criticism of Saudi-led intervention — along with conspiracy theories of Israeli-US-Saudi-Islamic State involvement in the conflict — in the past week.
The commander of Iran’s navy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, said on Saturday:
This presence continues in the free waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to fight against piracy according to the plan which was drawn at the request of the International Maritime Organization. No one can warn the Iranian warships (to move away) and this has not happened yet.
Claims in Arab media said naval forces from Egypt, a member of the Saudi-led coalition intervening in Yemen, had pushed the two Iranian warships out of the Gulf with a warning: “No threat has been made against us; we also don’t allow others to threaten or warn us, since we can be present in the free and international waters based on the international laws.”
Sayyari did draw a line on the extent of the Iranian involvement, saying, “There is no need for our flotilla of warships to dock in Yemen….We hope that security will be established in the Gulf of Aden with the help of all countries.”
Iran provides economic and political support for the Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement, which control Yemen’s capital Sanaa and has advanced into the south of the country; however, it has denied claims that it is supplying weapons, training Ansar Allah fighters, and putting military advisors into Yemen.
See Iran Daily, April 18: Tehran Presses Political Offensive on Yemen, with 4-Point Plan and Predictions of Saudi Defeat
Yemen Analysis: How the Political Transition Fell Apart
Tehran sent an Alborz destroyer and Bushehr support vessel from the southern port of Bandar Abbas to the Gulf of Aden, almost two weeks ago.
On the political front on Sunday, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has declared that the “Saudi government will not reach its worthless intentions by raiding Yemen”, adding “the Zionist regime” of Israel benefits from such a “dirty belligerency”.
Larijani told MPs that the crisis could be resolved through Iran’s four-point proposal and “national dialogue”.
Addressing commanders on Sunday, the Supreme Leader asserted, “The United States support for tyrants has resulted in tear-jerking, barbaric and oppressive events in Yemen.”
Supreme Leader Declares “Entire Nation Acts Like Fierce Fist to Defend Against Invaders”
Addressing commanders on Army Day, the Supreme Leader has proclaimed that “Iran acts powerfully in defending itself”, as “the entire nation acts like a fierce fist to defend against the invaders”.
Ayatollah Khamenei chided “the other side [which] insolently threatens us” and continued:
They faked a myth abt nukes to claim that #Iran is a threat. No!the threat is the US which commits unrestrained destabilizing interventions.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 19, 2015
He also claimed, “The cause of insecurity in the region is the Zionist regime which is the US chained dog.”
Staff and commanders of Islamic Republic of #Iran Army met a few minutes ago with the Leader of the #Revolution. pic.twitter.com/PpK9XXF3Cs
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 19, 2015