The Houthi rebels are acting independently in their decision to hamper Red Sea trade in support of the Palestinian people, says a senior commander with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), Al Jazeera reports.

“Yemen is an independent country with a strong army, and it also has a strong leader who acts independently and takes orders from no side,” said Alireza Tangsiri, chief of the IRGC’s naval force.

“Yemen’s naval operations in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and their prevention of the transit of ships belonging to the Zionist regime or vessels choosing the occupying regime as a destination is in line with their support of Muslims,” state-linked media quoted him as saying.

Tangsiri said the “heroic Yemenis” are trying to stop the killing of Palestinians, and it’s the United States and Western world that need to stop supporting “bloodshed by Zionists”.