US says Iran is directly involved in attacks on Israel and ships in Red Sea

 The US began directly accusing Iran of attacking Israel ships in the Red Sea .

The US believes that Iran is involved in the planning and execution of drone and missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi group on Israel and ships in the Red Sea, a senior aide to US President Joe Biden said, according to the Telegraph. 

The comments by deputy White House national security adviser Jon Finer are among the most explicit to date by a US official alleging Iranian involvement in the Houthi attacks.

Finer spoke hours after the US imposed new sanctions aimed at throttling what US officials say is Iranian financial support for the Houthi strikes.

The Houthis “would not have the weaponry, would not have the intelligence, would not have the motivation to do this, were it not for the role of the IRGC”, Finer told an Aspen Security Forum conference in Washington, using the acronym for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“They’re involved in the conduct of these attacks, the planning of them, the execution of them, the authorisation of them, and ultimately, they support them,” he continued.

Iran has denied any involvement in the strikes.

The Houthis say they have been staging attacks against Israel and Israeli ships in the Red Sea in response to the offensive Israel launched against Tehran-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza.