DUBAI, November 20. /TASS/. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanani Chafi has denied accusations from the Israeli prime minister’s office that Tehran was involved in the seizure of the Galaxy Leader ship in the Red Sea.

"These accusations are unfounded," he said at a press conference, as cited by the Tasnim news agency.

"We have repeatedly said that resistance groups active in the region <...> make decisions and act based on the interests of their nations," Kanani Chafi added. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman noted that Israel "cannot accept a strategic defeat" in the Gaza Strip, and is "trying to justify its failure by putting the blame on Iran."

The diplomat reiterated that the current escalation of tensions was "the result of the United States’ total support for the criminal actions of the Zionist regime."

The Al Hadath TV channel reported on November 19, citing sources, that Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthi) rebel movement had seized the Israeli cargo ship Galaxy Leader with 22 crew members on board in the Gulf of Aden. The Al Mayadeen TV channel said that the vessel had been captured in the Red Sea and there were 52 crew members on board. Yahya Saree, a spokesman for the Ansar Allah movement, claimed that the Houthis had seized the Israeli ship in the Red Sea and towed it to the Yemeni coast. He did not specify the number of crew members. According to a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office, the country’s authorities condemned the vessel’s seizure and blamed it on Iran. The Israeli Defense Forces denied reports that the ship was Israeli, saying that it was headed from Turkey to India and there were no Israeli citizens among its crew members. According to the Kyodo news agency, the vessel belongs to a British company and is operated by Japan’s Nippon Yusen.