Iran: US can't call for restraint while backing Israel's war in Gaza

DUBAI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The United States cannot call for restraint while supporting Israel's war in Gaza, Iran's foreign minister said on Monday, while calling for a diplomatic solution to the war in the enclave.

Hossein Amirabdollahian, in a televised joint press conference with his Indian counterpart in Tehran, called on U.S. officials "not to tie the security and national interests of the U.S. to the fate of Israel's prime minister who is falling".

The Islamic Republic backs Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in its war with Israel and Tehran accuses the United States of backing what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza.

Amirabdollahian said Iran-aligned Houthi militias will continue their attacks in the Red Sea "as long as the genocide in the Gaza war continues".

"Senior officials in Yemen's Sanaa (Houthi leaders) told us that as long as the genocide in the Gaza war continues, they will take action to prevent the movement of Israeli ships or ships heading to Tel Aviv," he said.

However, Amirabdollahian added that the Houthis have assured Tehran that "they will not create any disruption in maritime security".

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday called Yemen's Houthi forces a "terrorist" group, after American and British warplanes, ships and submarines launched dozens of air strikes across Yemen overnight.

The Houthi militia movement has threatened a "strong and effective response".

Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Elwely Elwelly, Nadine Awadalla, Hugh Lawson, William Maclean