Tehran dismisses Washington's 'worthless' claims on tanker attack near India

Tehran has dismissed Washington's claims that a drone attack on a tanker off the coast of India was "fired from Iran" as "worthless." This response follows the Pentagon's accusation linking Iran to the attack on a Japanese-owned chemical tanker amid a series of drone and missile strikes by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani stated, "We declare these claims as completely rejected and worthless. 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."

Furthermore, Iran criticized recent comments by UK foreign secretary David Cameron, labeling them as "repetitive" and "threadbare." Cameron had referred to Iran as a "malign influence in the region and the world" and advocated for "deterrent measures against" the country.

These developments occur against the backdrop of Israel's ongoing conflict in Gaza, marked by 11 weeks of air and ground attacks causing over 20,400 casualties. Israel, vowing to crush Hamas, has retaliated to the escalation to a cross-border attack by the Palestinian militant group on October 7, resulting in approximately 1,140 casualties in Israel, mostly civilians.