The United States believes that Iran is involved in the planning and execution of drone and missile attacks by Yemen's Houthi group on Israel and ships in the Red Sea, a senior aide to U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday.
The comments by deputy White House national security adviser Jon Finer are among the most explicit to date by a U.S. official alleging Iranian involvement in the Houthi attacks.
Finer spoke hours after the United States imposed new sanctions aimed at throttling what U.S. officials say is Iranian financial support for the Houthi strikes.
The Houthis "would not have the weaponry, would not have the intelligence, would not have the motivation to do this, were it not for the role of the IRGC," Finer told an Aspen Security Forum conference in Washington, using the acronym for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"They're involved in the conduct of these attacks, the planning of them, the execution of them, the authorization of them, and ultimately, they support them," he continued.
Iran has denied any involvement in the strikes.
The Houthis say they have been staging the attacks against Israel and Israeli ships in the Red Sea in response to the offensive Israel launched against Tehran-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza after its Oct.7 rampage into Israel.
Washington has said that U.S. warships have downed missiles and drones fired by the Houthis but the Pentagon says it is not clear that the American vessels were actually targeted.
U.S. warships also have intercepted attacks on commercial ships that the U.S. military says were linked to multiple nations.
Finer said that the U.S.S. Carney, a destroyer, downed dozens of missiles and drones headed towards Israel early in the Gaza conflict, calling it a "remarkable act of defense of Israeli territory."
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