Iranian newspapers supported the Tehran-backed Houthi group in Yemen in their launching of a cruise missile at the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.
Papers led with headlines and justifications saying that the alleged missile attack last was in response to confrontations witnessed by the forces of late former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Houthi militias.
Iranian newspapers omitted however the UAE’s denial that any missile had struck the nuclear reactor project’s site. They went ahead instead and promoted the claims made by Houthis.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasimi meanwhile denied reports by local news agencies of arson in the Iranian embassy in Yemen. He also denied that Iranian diplomats were present in the capital Sanaa.
Ultra-conservative newspapers loyal to the Revolutionary Guard led with headlines supporting the launch of Houthi rockets into Saudi Arabia and the UAE even after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had called for resolving the region's disputes through dialogue.
An editorial from the Iranian Kayhan newspaper led with stirring headlines that supported the missile attacks by the Houthis.
In addition, Iranian media went into a state of alert after clashes erupted in Sanaa last week between forces loyal to Saleh and the Houthi militias.
The newspaper, which is close to the office of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, renewed calls on the Houthis to fire rockets against countries participating in the coalition to support the legitimacy in Yemen.
A semi-official Iranian news agency said authorities at the Iranian culture and information ministry suspended the Kayhan newspaper for two days following its calls for rockets to be fired against the UAE. Officials in the spiritual administration said that such calls went against Iran's supreme interests.
The Kayhan ban came after it ran a headline saying Dubai was the "next target" for Yemen's Houthis.
