Tehran--Saudi Arabia's air strikes on Shiite rebels in Yemen triggered fury from Iran Thursday, with officials warning that the military action threatened to spill over into other countries.
The bombing of the Huthi rebels, who are said to be backed by Iran, came days after Yemen seemed headed toward all-out civil war as the militia advanced towards the southern city of Aden.
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been strained for years, notably over the civil war in Syria, but the crisis in Yemen has put their interests sharply at odds again.
With the escalation to air strikes analysts said Yemen could see the region's Sunni-Shia rivalry, chiefly between Saudi and Iran, pull both sides deeper into the country's months-long instability.
The Saudi action appeared designed to halt a Huthi surge that had seemed destined to allow the Shiite minority to seize control of the whole of Yemen, Saudi Arabia's Sunni-majority neighbour.
Riyadh said it was acting to restore the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who has been holed up in Aden since fleeing the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa last month.
However, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the strikes would lead only to greater loss of life.
"Military action from outside of Yemen against its territorial integrity and its people will have no result other than more bloodshed and more deaths," he told Al-Alam television, Iran's Arabic-language channel.
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AFP
