The Houthi official’s remarks came a day after a ballistic missile fired from Yemen reached central Israel for the first time, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn Israel would inflict a “heavy price” on the rebel group.

“There is always communication after every operation we conduct,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi movement’s political bureau, told Al Jazeera Mubasher TV. “These calls are based on either threats or presenting some temptations, but they have given up to achieve any accomplishment in that direction.”

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the remarks “a total fabrication.”