Joint US and British strikes ‘fuelling chaos’ in Middle East

IRAN warned Britain and the US that air strikes were “fuelling chaos and disorder” in the Middle East after successive bombing raids across the region.

The latest wave of attacks on Saturday night was “in clear contradiction with the repeated claims of Washington and London that they do not want the expansion of war and conflict in the region,” said Nasser Kanani, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman.

The comments came after Britain and the United States bombed Houthi militants in Yemen on Saturday, and the US carried out its largest raid since the Iraq war on Friday night.

Friday’s strikes followed a drone strike in Jordan last Sunday that killed three US military personnel. The Iranbacked Houthi rebels also vowed to respond to the latest attacks.

Yahya Sarea, the Houthis’ army spokesman, said the UK and US conducted 48 air strikes across six militant. “We will meet the escalation with escalation,” Mr Sarea said. The British Government denied it was an escalation.

The Houthis gave no assessment of the damage but the US described hitting underground missile arsenals, launch sites and helicopters.

In a sign of unease from Iran, its army later released a video warning the US against attacking two of its cargo ships, the Behshad and the Saviz, which have long been suspected of being a forward operating base for Iranian commandos.

Hamas also condemned the strikes as an “escalation that will drag the region into further turmoil and instability”.

Last night, the US indicated there are more air strikes to come. Jake Sullivan, the US national security advisor, said: “We intend to take additional strikes and additional action to continue to send a clear message that the United States will respond when our forces are attacked, or people are killed.”