UN Calls Saudi Arabia Blockade on Yemen ‘Catastrophic,’ Houthis Threaten Gulf Coalition

Quoting an unnamed official, the statement said the reports are a “systematic campaign targeting Saudi Arabia which leads a battle to stop the Iranian interference in Yemen and the region”.

The regulators’ request was contained in a circular sent earlier this week and banks have responded, the banking sources said, adding that banks had not been asked to freeze the accounts.

The Houthi movement fired a long-range missile at the King Khalid International Airport in northeastern Riyadh on Saturday. The renovation is set to begin later this year, and any delay could affect hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., which earned about $7.3 million in fees last year from the Waldorf.

The Pentagon praised Saudi Arabia for “exposing” Iran’s role in Yemen and Tehran’s provision of missile systems to Houthi militia fighting there.

Saudi and Iran broke off diplomatic relations in January 2016 after the Saudis executed a Shiite cleric and Iranians responded by attacking the Saudi Embassy in Iran.

Because you are of the royal blood, you don’t, by that fact and privilege, have the licence to be licentious; to do that which would bring dishonour and disgrace, even egregious odium to the royal family.

He said the missile was similar to one launched in July at Yanbu in Saudi Arabia and was manufactured in Iran, disassembled and smuggled into Yemen, then reassembled by the operatives of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, “then it was launched into Saudi Arabia”.

In the wake of the missile incident, the Saudi-led alliance has intensified its Yemen embargo, announcing the “immediate” closure of all air, land and sea ports of the Arabian Peninsula country.

Iran supports the Houthis but denies arming them.

The crown prince is determined to structure the hitherto closed kingdom and modernise the economy and above all prevent capital flight. Shares in companies linked to people detained in the investigation slid further.

A Saudi-led military coalition went to war with the Houthi rebels in March 2015 after they seized the capital, Sanaa.

The Saudis were widely seen as pressuring Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, to resign over the weekend.

“The Saudis have one of the most expensive militaries in the world”.

During a press conference Tuesday, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S.is encouraging authorities in Saudi Arabia to pursue the prosecution of corrupted officials. Houthi rebels have been accused of carrying out the attack.

Zarif also slammed “provocative actions by the Saudi government in the region”, the spokesman added. “It is business as usual”, it said in a statement. The most hidebound country in the Middle East has provided in an incredibly short time its most sweeping changes in the past five years.

US-Saudi ties had been strained under Obama, who Riyadh felt considered their alliance less important than negotiating the Iran nuclear deal.