IRGC Dismisses Reports Distorting Retired General’s Comments on Yemen


IRGC Dismisses Reports Distorting Retired General’s Comments on Yemen

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps rejected reports by some Western media outlets that have misrepresented the recent remarks by a retired IRGC general about the war in Yemen.

In a statement on Tuesday, Head of the IRGC Public Relations Department General Ramezan Sharif denied reports by certain Western media about the recent comments by Brigadier General Nasser Sha’bani, a retired IRGC commander.

The statements said General Sha’bani’s recent remarks that “Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Ansarullah are our (Iran’s) support and the enemy is so vulnerable that that we can entangle them beyond the border” has been distorted by the enemy and by some Western officials and media outlets seeking to invent the story that Iran has told the Yemeni forces to attack Saudi military ships.

“The Yemenis and Lebanese have reached such levels of capabilities that they can decide by themselves for defending their country and national interests,” Sharif added.

It all began when Yemen’s Navy hit the Saudi-led military coalition’s warships off Yemen’s western coast in late July.

The coalition’s officials acknowledged that a vessel had been hit, but claimed it was an oil tanker, not a warship.

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister later said the kingdom’s oil tankers will not pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the time being. 

Yemeni attacks against coalition warships and forces come in retaliation for the continued massacre of civilians and destruction of Yemen’s infrastructure by the alliance.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a deadly campaign against Yemen from the air, land, and sea since March 2015 in an attempt to reinstate former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, and to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

Over the past three years, the Houthis have been running state affairs and defending Yemeni people against the Saudi aggression.

The aggression has killed over 14,000 people and taken a heavy toll on the country's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories. The offensive has, however, achieved none of its goals.

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