Assault rifles seized by the US Navy which it says Iran was smuggling to Houthi forces in Yemen. Photo Credit: US Navy
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani, condemned US allegations of Iran supplying arms to Yemen as a smokescreen for Washington’s acts of aggression against the Arab Peninsula country.
Iravani expressed these views in a letter to the UN Security Council on Thursday.
On Monday, Stephanie Sullivan, the US deputy envoy to the United Nations, reiterated claims that Iran was providing arms to Yemen’s Ansarullah movement.
Sullivan stated that Iran’s “own state-affiliated media has touted the country’s supply of prohibited ballistic missile technology” to Ansarullah.
Iravani condemned the American diplomat for “deviating from the agenda and once more misusing the Security Council platform to level unfounded allegations against the Islamic Republic on the situation in Yemen.”
“Iran regards these allegations as nothing more than a political agenda by the United States to cover up and legitimize its ongoing acts of aggression against Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.
The US, along with the United Kingdom, has been conducting airstrikes against Yemen’s western provinces to halt Sanaa’s pro-Palestinian operations targeting Israeli ships or vessels heading towards the occupied Palestinian territories.
Iravani also warned that by repeating allegations against Iran, the US was “seeking to pressure UN experts to compromise their independent mandate.”
“This destructive approach by the US undermines the credibility of both the Security Council and the reports of UN experts that should be impartial and non-politicized,” Iravani cautioned.
Tasnim News Agency
Tasnim News Agency, which claims to be a private news agency in Iran but is reported be close to the IRGC, was launched in 2012. Its purpose is to cover a variety of political, social, economic and international subjects along with other fields.