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Iran denied on Saturday US accusations that it was involved in planning attacks by Yemen's Tehran-aligned Houthi movement on commercial vessels in the RedSea, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. The repeated denial, issued by Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani, came after the White House saidTehran was "deeply involved" in planning the operations and its intelligence was critical to enable the Houthis to target ships. Iran supports the Houthis but officially denies arming the group, which has seized Yemen's capital Sanaa after ousting the government and now controls large swaths of the country. The Houthis, who say their attacks are aimed at Israel-linked ships and are in support of Palestinians under siege by Israel in Gaza, have targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea with drones and missiles, forcing shippers to change course and take longer routes around the southern tip of Africa. While Iran denies helping Houthis plan attacks on Israel-linked ships, FRANCE 24's guest expert Yossi Mekelberg, Associate Fellow of MENA Programme at Chatham House in London, says that it's 'obvious' the Houthi rebel attacks using drones and ballistic missiles have the full 'backing of Iran'.

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