ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday described the United States’ claims that the Houthis are an Iranian proxy as “a big mistake” and an insult to the people of Yemen who have opposed the Israeli state from the start.

US President Donald Trump on Monday accused Iran of being behind all military actions of Yemen’s Houthi rebel group, vowing “dire consequences” for Tehran in case of any further attacks by the Houthis.

“They are insulting them!” said Khamenei in a speech delivered in front of thousands of Iranians on the occasion of Newroz.

“The Yemeni nation has a motive, the resistance centers in the countries of the region have a motive; the Islamic Republic of Iran does not need a proxy,” he added.

Trump’s comments come amid renewed US strikes targeting Houthi-held regions in Yemen over the group’s continued attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which they say are carried out in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

“They [Yemen] oppose these hostilities, these evils, these atrocities that the usurping, evil Zionist regime is committing against the people today and yesterday, they protest, they stand firm, they resist,” said the Iranian supreme leader.

“This is not a question of proxy. Their big mistake is that they think that they are doing this on behalf of Iran; no, it is not on behalf of Iran,” he added.

Despite the American threats, the Houthis have continued their attacks in recent days, targeting the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group with missiles and drones in the northern Red Sea. The group has also claimed responsibility for ballistic missile attacks on Ben Gurion airport in central Israel.