ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An Iranian newspaper that is close to the Supreme Leader ran a controversial headline on Monday suggesting that Houthi rebels in Yemen will next target Dubai, after recently firing a ballistic missile at Riyadh’s airport.
Kayhan ran an editorial saying that no area in Saudi Arabia is out of range of the missiles of Houthi rebels who are now in control of the capital Sanaa.
The article listed a number of targets including Riyadh, Jeddah, and Saudi’s oil and gas company Aramco. It added the Houthi rebels may even go a step further and target Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The editor of Kayhan is the representative of the Supreme Leader at the newspaper.
The editorial breached press regulations concerning Iran’s national security, according to the press regulator as reported by national media.
The UAE is part of the Saudi-led alliance that launched an air and military campaign against Houthi rebels in 2015 following the start of the civil war between the Saudi-backed Yemen government and the Houthis.
The newspaper claimed that Saturday’s missile attack on Riyadh sent shockwaves through the ruling elite of the oil-rich kingdom and that young Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman would have not believed it possible the Houthis could target the Saudi capital.
The Saudi-led alliance has claimed that the missile was supplied to the rebels by Iran. Saudi’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday they will respond to the Iranian threat at an “appropriate time.”
The newspaper also ran a second piece on the missile issue, mocking US President Donald Trump’s statement that the missile fired at Riyadh’s airport was Iranian. It stated that the Saudi-led alliance was bombarding Yemen with weapons supplied by the United States and others.
The United Nations have recorded more than 13,000 civilian casualties in the civil war that has become a hot spot where Saudi Arabia and Iran are fighting for influence.
The two are also supporting rival parties in Syria, Bahrain, and to some extent in Iraq.
Their rivalry has also caused upheaval in Lebanon. The country’s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri announced his resignation over the weekend while visiting Saudi Arabia. He said he did so because Iran has planned to cause chaos and destruction in Lebanon and throughout the Arab world.
Hariri also accused the Iranian-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah of establishing a “state within a state” in Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Sunday that Hariri resigned at Saudi Arabia’s bidding.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun, who is close to the Hezbollah, said on Monday that they will not accept Hariri’s resignation until they receive a “voluntary” statement from him.
Iran has denied the accusations that it undermined Lebanese state authority. It also denied that they have provided the Houthis with ballistic missiles.
The advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Akbar Velayati, visited Hariri in Lebanon just one day before he presented his resignation.
