IRAN denied once again today that it provides aid to Yemen’s Houthi-led government forces.

The denial followed a wave of massive United States air strikes against Yemen and a warning by President Donald Trump that Tehran would be held “fully accountable” for the actions of the Yemenis.

The Yemeni Health Ministry said that the strikes killed at least 31 people, including women and children, and wounded over 100. 

The Yemenis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel and Hamas have been at war.

The attacks stopped when a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in Gaza in January, but the Yemenis had threatened to renew them after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.

General Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said that his country “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the Yemenis, according to Al-Masirah TV.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X, urged the US to halt the strikes and said that Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy.

Mr Trump vowed on Saturday to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Yemenis cease their attacks on shipping along the vital maritime corridor.

The air strikes come a few days after Sanaa said that it would resume attacks on Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen in response to Israel’s latest blockade on Gaza.

There have been no attacks by Yemen reported since then.

Meanwhile in Gaza, Hamas said on Saturday that it will only release an American-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel implements their ceasefire agreement.

A senior Hamas official said that long-delayed talks over the ceasefire’s second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no longer than 50 days. 

Israel also would need to stop barring the entry of humanitarian aid and withdraw from a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Israel has said that it won’t pull out from the corridor to combat alleged weapons smuggling.

Hamas is also demanding the release of more Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

This came after Israeli air strikes killed nine people in the Gaza Strip who the military identified as resistance fighters, allegations denied by a British-based aid group, the Al Khair Foundation, that said eight of its workers were killed.

Hamas called the attack a “serious escalation” showing Israel’s attempts to “sabotage any opportunity” to implement the ceasefire agreement.