Iran’s foreign ministry has rejected as “worthless” Washington’s claims that a drone attack targeting a tanker off the coast of India was “fired from Iran”, AFP reports.

Saturday’s targeting of a Japanese-owned chemical tanker came amid a flurry of drone and missile attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas.

The Pentagon later openly accused Tehran of the attack.

“We declare these claims as completely rejected and worthless,” said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani when asked about the US accusations.

“Such claims are aimed at projecting, distracting public attention, and covering up for the full support of the American government for the crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel) in Gaza,” he added.

Kanani also slammed as “repetitive” and “threadbare” recent remarks by UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron who branded Iran a “malign influence in the region and the world” and urged a “set of deterrent measures against” it.