IRGC denies giving missiles to Houthis

UAE says civilian flight paths will not change after jet incident

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards denied on Tuesday Saudi accusations that Tehran has provided the Houthi movement in Yemen with ballistic capabilities, a day after a Houthi missile hit the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

“Everyone knows that all routes to send arms to Yemen are blocked,” the political deputy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Crops, Brig.-Gen. Yadollah Javani, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

“Yemenis have reached the capability to produce their own defensive weapons including missiles; an achievement that has been inconceivable to Saudis,” he said.

Also, the United Arab Emirates will not change its civilian flight paths, the chairman of its General Civil Aviation Authority said on Tuesday, a day after the UAE accused Qatari fighter jets of flying dangerously close to two of its civilian planes.

Asked if any changes would be made to civilian routes, Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri said: “We have no plans at the present time.”

The UAE called the incident – which Qatar denied – a “provocative action,” and said it had already reported two similar events to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations’ aviation agency.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai, Mansouri said the UAE would now complain to the ICAO again.

Bahrain’s civil aviation authority confirmed the incident took place, saying two Qatari fighter jets flew under a UAE Airbus A320 en route from the emirate of Fujairah to Rome, forcing the UAE aircraft to fly at a higher altitude.