Yemen has repeated its accusation that Iran is funding Houthi rebel fighters in their war against government forces in the north of the country.General Yahya Salih, Yemen's counter-terrorism chief, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that it would be impossible for the group to be able to wage its campaign without foreign support.
"The Houthis cannot fund and fight this war with pomegranates and grapes or drugs," he said.
"No doubt there is Iranian support, especially when you consider that the Yemeni state is spending billions of riyals."
Yemen launched a military offensive against the Houthis in the northern Saada region in August after the group's fighters stepped up its campaign against the government.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia has become embroiled in the conflict in recent weeks, launching air raids and artillery strikes on suspected Houthi targets after the group crossed the border and reportedly seized a small area of Saudi territory.
Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, last week warned against perceived foreign intervention in the conflict.
Mottaki also said that Yemen needed to "rehabilitate relations" with its public, including the Shia minority from which the Houthi fightyers come, adding that Iran had already announced its willingness to mediate between them.
But Salih told Al Jazeera that Tehran had no right to question Yemen's treatment of ethnic or religious minorities.
"Who has given Mr Mottaki the right to talk about minorities?
"Minorities are persecuted in Iran, just recently they executed Kurd activists. He who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones."
The Houthis, who are from the Shia Muslim Zaidi sect, first took up arms against the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, in 2004, citing political, economic and religious marginalisation by the Saudi and Western-backed administration.
Read more at Al Jazeera (English)
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