NEW YORK, January 17. /TASS/. The Yemenis are acting in their own interests without getting any instructions whatsover from Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

"The people of Yemen and other countries in the region who defend the Palestinian people are acting according to their own experience and through their own interests, and they are not receiving any orders or instructions from us," Iran’s top diplomat told the US television channel. According to him, "maritime security is of paramount importance" to Iran as the country exports oil, therefore, any regional insecurity "will not be in our favor."

After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave.

Overnight on January 12, the armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom delivered joint strikes on Houthi positions in Sanaa, Hodeidah and other Yemeni cities. US President Joe Biden said the operation was carried out in response to "unprecedented Houthi attacks" on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and that the strikes were delivered in self-defense.