Yemenis demonstrate against Iran

SANAA, Yemen, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Yemeni protesters demonstrated in front of the Iranian Embassy in Sanaa chanting anti-Iranian slogans and calling for the expulsion of the Iranian envoy.

Protesters chanted "no to the plot of Persian expansion" and other anti-Iranian slogans in front of the Iranian Embassy on Wednesday. Iranian student militia members had protested in front of the Yemeni and Saudi embassies in Tehran earlier this week.

Yemeni government forces in August launched a massive military campaign against Shiite al-Houthi rebels that the government blames for trying to establish an Islamic state in the region. Iran, meanwhile, complains the government is unfairly targeting the Shiite community.

The protests Wednesday were organized by non-government groups, though the al-Arabiya news network notes such demonstrations rarely take place without the government's blessings.

Sanaa, meanwhile, closed a hospital and clinic operated by the Iranian Red Crescent Society for what the government said was a lack of transparency in its accounting procedures, the al-Arabiya report said.

"The Interior Ministry has decided to close the Iranian clinic and hospital because of lack of transparency of their accounts (and because of) Iranian financial support to these two institutions," a statement by the Interior Ministry read.

Yemen cordoned off the entrance to the Iranian hospital in October on allegations the staff was supporting al-Houthi rebels.