TEHRAN (ISNA)- Secretary of Iranian Supreme National Security Council rejected US officials� claim that Iranian warships carrying weapons for Yemen have withdrawn from Yemeni territorial waters.

�There has been no withdrawal. There has been a natural transfer from the source to the destination in a specified time-frame. Some Iranian warships are still in the region. They will return (to the country) and deploy after a while,� Ali Shamkhani said.

He also criticized the US for welcoming Saudi-led military attacks against Yemen.

Saudi Arabia launched its air campaign against Yemen on March 26 - without a United Nations mandate - in a bid to undermine the Houthi movement's Ansarullah fighters and to restore power to the country�s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

On April 21, Riyadh announced the end of the first phase of its unlawful military operation, which has claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 people, but airstrikes have continued with Saudi bombers targeting different areas across the country.

By ISNA