Iran’s support for Houthi rebel militia in Yemen could see ballistic missile expertise escape into the hands of terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, the Saudi government has claimed.

Mohammad Al Jabir, Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, said Tehran’s alleged supply of ballistic missiles to the Shia militia movement risks other extremist groups in Yemen gaining the same technology.

Yemen is wracked by a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia after a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to prop up government forces fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels.

Saudi officials accuse Iran of smuggling missile parts into Yemen where Iranian experts help the militia assemble the weapons to fire into Saudi Arabia or at Yemeni government troops.