US backs Saudi Arabia and points the finger at Iran after Yemen missile attack

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

President Donald Trump speaks to the press in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, October 16, 2017.

The White House has condemned a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi militias on Saudi Arabia and said Iran “enabled” the attacks which had threatened stability in the Middle East.

“Houthi missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, enabled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, threaten regional security and undermine UN efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict,” it said in a statement, reported by Reuters Wednesday morning.

The statement comes after Saudi Arabia accused Iran of being behind a ballistic missile attack on Saturday carried out by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Iran has been accused of backing the militias and supplying missiles, but Iran’s UN Ambassador Gholamali Khoshrou described the allegations as “unfounded,” according to the Tasnim News Agency.

Saudi Arabia said the missile on Saturday was intercepted as it headed towards the Saudi capital Riyadh.

The ongoing civil war in Yemen is akin to a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran and their competing ideologies of Sunni and Shia Islam, respectively. While Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia backs the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, its rival Iran backs the pro-Shia Houthi movement that is loyal to the country’s former president Ali Abdulla Saleh.

Saudi Arabia said it viewed the missile attack as an “act of war” by Iran, increasing the possibility of a military clash between the two regional rivals.

The White House’s comment comes as U.S. President Donald Trump began a visit to the Chinese capital Beijing Wednesday as part of a trip to several Asian countries.

Trump has given his backing to Saudi Arabia and has called on the kingdom and its allies to isolate Iran and counteract its influence in the Middle East.