Riyadh: Saudi Arabia on Thursday accused Iran of encouraging Yemen's Houthis in the dramatic escalation of their fight with the kingdom, adding that the Islamic republic continued to arm and train the group.
In a virtual briefing with reporters including AFP journalists, Saudi Arabia's deputy minister for public diplomacy at the foreign ministry said Riyadh was still in touch with Iran, but that Tehran did not appear ready to make concessions.
Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude oil exporter, has come under sustained attack by the Houthis in recent days, shifting the focus of the Middle East war that erupted with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
It has launched retaliatory strikes on Houthi strongholds in Yemen -- one of the world's poorest countries -- but the Iran-backed militants remain undeterred.
"Iran continues to arm, train and support the Houthi militia in violation of UN security council resolutions," said Dr. Rayed Krimly, the deputy minister.
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"We think that the escalation by the Houthis at this latest stage of the conflict is encouraged by Iran," he added.
The official said the kingdom continued "to have direct communications with Iran", but added: "Overall, it doesn't seem yet that the Iranians are able to provide the necessary concessions for a solution."
In 2023, regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia reached a deal mediated by China to thaw a longstanding freeze in ties, but the latest violence might threaten to upend the entente.
The Saudi official went on to accuse the Houthis of refusing to meet in Oman in recent weeks as fighting ramped up between the two sides.
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"At the beginning of this escalation, we asked them to meet in Muscat, Oman and they refused," he added.
"This was the last communication which happened a few weeks ago."
Airport strikes
On Saturday, a strike hit Riyadh's international airport, killing 13 people and wounding around 300 others, in the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia in a decade.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis on Thursday said the group had attacked Riyadh's airport 20 times in October.
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During a presentation in Riyadh covering the strikes, coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki said "the Houthis must immediately cease all terrorist operations targeting civilians and civilian facilities, including airports, ports, oil facilities, and infrastructure".
"The terrorist Houthi militias have worked to obtain advanced technologies with the help of regional actors," he said, adding that the group now had "ballistic missiles, attack and suicide drones, and fast explosive-laden boats".
Yemen's civil war reignited in July after a years-long UN-brokered truce collapsed, months into a wider Middle East war that has rocked the region and roiled energy supplies and markets.
The situation took a sharp turn for the worse in September, when the Houthis launched a lightning offensive that saw them capture swathes of new territory in Yemen, including along the Red Sea coast where a waterway crucial to global energy flows is located.
On Thursday, the Houthis fired missiles at the presidential palace in Aden, which also serves as the headquarters of the internationally recognised government, security sources told AFP, while a journalist saw smoke rising from the site.
"Houthi missiles targeted the Al-Maashiq presidential palace in Aden," the government's interim capital, three local police sources said on condition of anonymity, after residents of the southern city reported hearing explosions.
Since their offensive began, the Houthis have also repeatedly targeted Saudi Arabia, which backs the internationally recognised government whose forces they are battling on the ground.
The attacks on Saudi Arabia have tested the country's infrastructure and resilience, the energy minister acknowledged earlier this week.
Riyadh usually hosts a packed calendar of events this time of year, including its flagship investment conference drawing foreign leaders and business titans.
In Yemen, the conflict has caused what the United Nations calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, leaving most of the nation's population dependent on aid.