Yemen's PM says airport attack aimed to 'eliminate' Cabinet

Yemen’s prime minister on Saturday said that a missile attack on the airport in Aden was meant “to eliminate” the country's new government as it arrived in the key southern city — a daring assault which he blamed on Iran-backed rebels.

Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed spoke to The Associated Press in an interview conducted at his office in the Mashiq Palace in Aden. It was the leader's first interview with international media after he survived Wednesday’s attack that killed at least 25 people and wounded 110 others.

“It’s a major terrorist attack that was meant to eliminate the government," the premier said. “It was a message against peace and stability in Yemen.”

People walk away from the runway following an explosion at the airport in Aden, Yemen, shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. No one on board the government plane was hurt but initial reports said several people at the airport were killed. (AP Photo Wael Qubady)

Saeed repeated his government’s accusations that Yemen's Houthi rebels were responsible for the missile attack on the airport and a drone assault on the palace, shortly after the premier and his Cabinet were transferred there.

The new Yemeni government was formed in December to end a dangerous political rift with southern separatists who are backed by the United Arab Emirates. The internal rift threatened the UAE's partnership with Saudi Arabia that is fighting the Houthis in Yemen.

He said that the “techniques" used in the airport missile attack were hallmarks of the Houthis' strategy.

Glass and debris covers the damaged portion of the airport in Yemen’s southern city of Aden after an explosion, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. The blast struck the airport building shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed on Wednesday. No one on the government plane was hurt. (AP Photo)

The attack took place moments after a plane carrying Saeed and his Cabinet members landed at the airport. AP footage from the scene at Aden's airport showed members of the government delegation disembarking as the blast shook the tarmac, with many ministers rushing back inside the plane or running down the stairs, seeking shelter.

Saeed said three precision-guided missiles had struck the facility, targeting his plane, the arrival hall and the VIP lounge of the airport.

“The guidance accuracy was great. The operation was huge," he said.

Bystanders stand near the runway of Yemen southern city of Aden's airport shortly after an explosion hit as a government plane landed, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. The blast struck the airport building shortly after a Yemenia airlines plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed. No one on the government plane was hurt. (AP PhotoWael Qubady)

The prime minister said Yemeni investigators have collected the remains of the missiles and that experts from the Saudi-led coalition and the U.S. would help determine the type and origins of the missiles.

Saeed and his newly formed Cabinet were returning to Yemen a week after they were sworn in before Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, where the embattled leader resides.

The Cabinet reshuffle was part of a power-sharing deal between the Saudi-backed Hadi and the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, an umbrella group of militias seeking to restore an independent southern Yemen, which existed from 1967 until unification in 1990.

Saeed, the prime minister, said his government would prioritize “security and stability” in government-held areas after months of infighting between Hadi’s government and the STC.

“Whatever the challenges in Aden, the government remains,” he said.

He also pointed to “huge” economic challenges as being the focus of his government.

The conflict in the Arab world’s most impoverished nation began when the Houthis captured the capital of Sanaa in 2014, forcing Hadi’s government to flee.

The following year, the Saudi-led coalition intervened against the Iran-backed rebels in what has turned into a stalemated war. Since then, more than 112,000 people — fighters and civilians — have been killed.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog will travel to Iran next week as Tehran's nuclear program enriches uranium a step away from weapons-grade levels and international oversight remains limited, officials said Wednesday.

Rafael Mariano Grossi's visit will coincide with a nuclear energy conference Iran will hold in the central city of Isfahan, which hosts sensitive enrichment sites and was targeted in an apparent Israeli attack on April 19. It also coincides with wider regional tensions in the Mideast inflamed by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, including attacks on shipping by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Iran on May 6 and 7, the Vienna-based agency said. It did not elaborate on his schedule or his meetings.

Iranian state television has described the conference in Isfahan as an “international conference on nuclear sciences and techniques.” The broadcaster quoted Mohammed Eslami, the head of Iran's civilian nuclear program, as saying on Wednesday that Grossi will attend the conference and meet with him and other officials.

“I am sure that the ambiguities will be resolved and we can strengthen our relations with the agency within the framework of safeguards and” the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Eslami said.

Tensions have only grown between Iran and the IAEA since then-President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdraw America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. Since then, Iran has abandoned all limits the deal put on its program and now has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear bombs if it chose to build them, Grossi has warned.

IAEA surveillance cameras have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the agency's most experienced inspectors. Iranian officials have increasingly threatened they could pursue atomic weapons, particularly after launching an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel last month.

Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons, saying its atomic program is for purely civilian purposes. However, U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.

The latest American intelligence community assessment says Iran “is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities necessary to produce a testable nuclear device.”

Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

FILE - International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi waits to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands at the prime minister's office in Tokyo Thursday, March 14, 2024. The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog will travel to Iran next week as Tehran's nuclear program enriches uranium a step away from weapons-grade levels and international oversight of the program remains limited, officials said Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)