ANKARA

Iran Monday rejected any link to a Houthi missile strike that hit the grounds of Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport a day earlier.

A Foreign Ministry statement called accusations linking Tehran to the Houthi attack “an affront to that proud and oppressed nation.”

It said these claims “constitute a deliberate misrepresentation aimed at deflecting attention” from Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian lands, “concealing strategic failures, and manufacturing pretexts for further destabilization of the West Asian region.”

“It must be underscored that it is the US military that, in support of the Zionist regime (Israel)’s genocidal campaign, has entered into direct conflict with the people of Yemen and is committing war crimes by targeting civilian infrastructure and non-military objectives across various Yemeni cities,” it said.

Iran condemned US airstrikes against Yemen as “flagrant violations of the Charter of the United Nations and fundamental principles of international law.”

It said Israel’s genocidal war and killings in the Palestinian lands are the root cause of pervasive insecurity in the entire region.

The ministry also condemned US and Israeli threats against Iran, and held both countries "accountable for the consequences and repercussions of such conduct."

The Houthi group called its missile strike on the Ben Gurion Airport a “warning” to international airlines that the Israeli airport is “unsafe for civilian aviation.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to respond militarily to Yemen and Iran following the attack.

“(US) President (Donald) Trump is absolutely right! Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran. Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters,” he wrote on X following an emergency meeting.

The Houthis have repeatedly announced ballistic missile launches against Ben Gurion Airport, but Sunday marked the first time that a Houthi missile landed near the main terminal at the airport.

Israel’s Channel 13 said that several international carriers, including Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Air India, ITA Airways and Air Europa, had canceled their Sunday flights to Tel Aviv.

Yemen has faced an intensified US military campaign since mid-March, including around 1,300 air and naval strikes, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties, according to the Houthi group.

The Houthis have targeted ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where over 52,500 people have been killed in a brutal Israeli assault for more than 19 months, most of them women and children.

The group halted attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, but resumed them after Israel's renewed airstrikes on Gaza in March.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.