Yemeni Ambassador to Iran Ibrahim Mohammad al-Deilami (file photo)

Sanaa, February 19 (RHC)-- The Yemeni ambassador to Iran says his country’s armed forces will strike any American and British targets “within firing range” in response to their recent acts of aggression on Yemen’s soil.

Ibrahim Mohammad al-Deilami made the statement in remarks published by IRNA on Sunday while elaborating on Yemen’s naval operations against Israeli shipping in the Red Sea in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as the occupying regime’s war on the besieged territory has entered its fifth month.

The military operations by the Yemeni Armed Forces and the popular Ansarullah resistance movement have caused serious economic losses for Israel, prompting the United States and the UK to launch strikes on Yemeni provinces in response to Yemen's pro-Palestine operations.

“The actions of the Yemeni people and army are a natural response in line with supporting the oppressed and preventing oppression as this is the position of every person who has a high sense of responsibility and it is not appropriate for the Arab and Muslim people to be indifferent in this matter and not take any action,” Deilami said.

And he noted: “We believe that the Zionist regime cannot bear more losses as the losses in the economic, military and moral levels have weakened the regime."  "Yemen has duties to continue to fulfill our duties in support of the Palestinian people until the end of the aggression and lifting of the blockade imposed on the Palestinian people.”

The ambassador pointed to Yemen’s repeated stance that the US and UK aggression will not go unanswered, saying, “The operations that we are conducting with all our might against the goals and interests of the U.S. and Britain in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea are part of these responses. Now we are engaged in an all-out conflict with them we will strike every enemy target within firing range.”

Deilami censured the militarization of the Red Sea by the US and UK and said the move was “not in the interest of European countries.”  He added: “Many EU countries do not agree with the US policies as shipping companies active in the export of goods in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea know that only Israeli ships or ships going to occupied territories are targeted.”

Yemen's Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a video statement on Saturday that the country's naval units had targeted with missiles a British oil tanker in the Red Sea in retaliation for the recent US-UK aggression against Yemen. 

Praising the attack as a “triumph” for Palestinians, Saree underscored the continuation of military operations in the Red and Arabian Seas against Israeli shipping until the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in Gaza is lifted.

The Yemeni Armed Forces also fired missiles at a British ship passing through the Gulf of Aden on Thursday and scored a “direct hit” in their latest operation in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Yemen’s armed forces have been targeting Israeli ships and those bound for Israeli ports since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza which has been subject to five months of ferocious airstrikes and a ground invasion.

The Yemeni operations have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, which normally carries about 12 percent of global maritime trade.  The Yemeni army says only Israeli, U.S. and British ships are targeted, stating that other countries can rest assured of the safety of their cargoes.