Yemeni government cuts relations with Iran

The description of the ship’s seizure conflicted in a few instances with an earlier account provided by a separate Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Shiite rebels, which claimed in a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency that it had foiled the smuggling attempt.

“The Houthis and their allies retreated to Mokha”, a Red Sea port a few 20 kilometres further north.

“[The attack] aims to arouse concern in the worldwide community over the safety of the shipping lane”, a spokesman for the media office of Houthi leader Abdel-Malek Badruddin al-Houthi said on Facebook.

Ground fighting and coalition air strikes have killed more than 5,400 people, according to the UN.

On Saturday, Arab coalition intercepted an Iranian fishing boat a few 150 miles (241 kilometers) off the Omani city of Salalah carrying weapons meant for the insurgent group.

The United Nations vote called for Yemen to receive “technical assistance” on improving human rights. “I don’t think we have much doubt that this incident took place and it is a grave incident”, Colville told a news conference.

However, the move is also likely to aggravate a humanitarian crisis already afflicting most of the country.

The United States is the main arms supplier to the Gulf Arab coalition. The U.S.is providing logistical support to the coalition.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and his government returned to Aden last month following six months in exile, after loyalist forces regained control of the port city and four other southern provinces from the rebels.

He added that “Yemen’s embassy staff in Tehran might leave Iran after closing the embassy soon”.

Saudi Arabia started a military campaign in late March aimed at driving the Houthis back to their northern stronghold and restoring Hadi to power. The strait was cleared of Shia Houthi rebels loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who overthrew the government in 2014 and overran the cities of Sanaa, the capital, and Aden.

Separately, a Saudi security officer was killed Thursday in heavy cross-border fire with attackers in Yemen, Interior Ministry spokesman Maj.