Iranian flights to Yemen are violation of sovereignty, says Yemeni official

Members of a Houthi delegation returning from Tehran disembark from an Iranian aircraft at Hodeidah airport on Monday. Photograph: Houthis Run Al-Masirah Tv Handout/EPA View image in fullscreen Members of a Houthi delegation returning from Tehran disembark from an Iranian aircraft at Hodeidah airport on Monday. Photograph: Houthis Run Al-Masirah Tv Handout/EPA Iranian flights to Yemen are violation of sovereignty, says Yemeni official Plane bringing Houthi delegation home from Tehran had to divert after Yemeni government bombed Sana’a airport Middle East crisis live – latest updates Iranian flights to and from Yemen are an unacceptable violation of the country’s sovereignty, the vice-president in Yemen’s Saudi-backed, UN-recognised government has said. Abdullah al-Alimi said in an interview that the planes contained equipment for the Houthi movement, which he said had transformed from merely a domestic threat into a regional and international threat to global security and the global economy. He was speaking after Yemeni government planes, supported by Saudi Arabia , bombed the Houthi-controlled Sana’a airport in protest at Iranian efforts to send a plane to the city containing a Houthi delegation returning from the funeral of the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The plane containing the delegation eventually landed at another airport, in the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah. The Houthis fired missiles at Saudi Arabia in response, breaking a four-year truce in the ⁠conflict between Saudi Arabia and ⁠the Iran-aligned group. An emergency session of the UN security council heard calls for both sides to de-escalate. The head of the Houthi national delegation said: “Defending oneself, the homeland and the people is a religious, national, moral and humanitarian duty, and a legitimate right affirmed by Islamic law and international law. The aggressor is the real wrongdoer.” View image in fullscreen Damage to the runway of Sana’a airport on Monday. Photograph: Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV handout/EPA Yemen has been in a state of intermittent civil war since 2015, when the Houthis seized control of Sana’a, the capital, forcing the UN-recognised government to withdraw to Aden in the south with Saudi support. Al-Alimi, a long-term major player in Yemen politics, has a critical role in the government. He said the Houthis were in a weaker position than they had been for many years. This was due to a number of factors including, in part, the weakening of Iran , their longstanding supporter. He said: “It is realistic that we can end their coup and restore the state and its institutions, contribute to the security and stability of the region and the world, secure the waterways and protect the global economy.” Al-Alimi said the Iranians were using the funeral as cover to bring equipment and experts to the Houthis. “We have tried repeatedly to negotiate with the Houthis, but that has achieved nothing,” he said. “However, there has been a strategic change