TEHRAN- The ambassador of Yemen to Iran says that in the midst of Israel’s genocide on the besieged Palestinian territory, the U.S. and its Western allies want to stop Yemen from aiding the people of Gaza.

During a Saturday interview with Iran’s ISNA news agency, Ibrahim Mohammad al-Deilami spoke on the recent U.S. and UK assaults on Yemen. 

“The Americans seek to expand the scope of war across the region, and we have already warned them to avoid any foolish act,” Deilami said, adding, “The United States is responsible for whatever that may happen in the Red Sea.”

“However, the Americans are trying to expand the scope of the war in order to deflect attention from the issue of Palestine,” the Yemeni envoy said, adding that his country does not want the conflict to continue spreading throughout the region.

The United States and Britain launched their first round of warplane and Tomahawk missile strikes against Yemen on Friday.

The strikes were in reaction to a series of anti-Israel operations staged by Yemeni troops in the Red Sea in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is embroiled in a murderous Israeli war with full U.S. assistance.

The continuous Israeli military attack has killed at least 23,843 individuals, the majority of whom are women and children, and injured 60,317 others.

Dailami maintained that the assaults carried out against his country by the U.S. and the UK lacked legitimacy from the standpoint of international law, because “Americans tried to get the United Nations’ authorization for attacking Yemen, but failed to do so.”

He stated that the Western partners’ attacks on Yemen are also intended to help and shield the Zionist regime. “Their main goal is to prevent Yemen from providing support for the people of Palestine,” he added.

The U.S. has been launching further offensives against several areas of Yemen since Friday, including the capital Sanaa and the port city of Hudaydah in the west.

The U.S.-led assaults took place following Washington’s failure to pass a resolution in the UN Security Council accusing Yemen of jeopardizing maritime security in the Red Sea by its anti-Israeli strikes.

OIC condemns attack on Yemen

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued a statement on Sunday, slamming the recent attack on Yemen by U.S. and UK forces. 

It also expressed deep concern over the ongoing dangerous developments in the Red Sea region and the air attacks on Yemen.

The OIC underscored the necessity of taking steps towards reducing tension and avoiding the escalation of conflict in the Red Sea region and thwarting the spillover of the conflict in a bid to safeguard the regional stability and security.