Iran rejects London’s accusations of arms seizure for Yemen
Iran on Friday rejected British accusations of the seizure of Iranian weapons to Yemen in violation of a UN embargo on Yemeni rebels Houthis.
Iran supports the Houthis in their war against power in Yemen, but denies providing them with weapons. His regional rival, Saudi Arabia, is leading a coalition that militarily supports power in the poor country of the Arabian Peninsula.
“By continuously selling advanced weapons to the military coalition (…) Britain is involved in the aggression against Yemen, and therefore cannot make such baseless accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran”, Nasser Kanani, the Foreign Ministry spokesman in Tehran, said, quoted by the official IRNA agency.
On Thursday, the British Navy announced the seizure earlier this year of Iranian weapons, including surface-to-air missiles and cruise missile engines, aboard fast smugglers’ boats in international waters south of Iran.
According to a statement by the British Ministry of Defense, this shipment is in violation of the UN Security Council resolution that extended the arms embargo on Yemen, which had hitherto applied to named individuals and companies, to all Houthis in February.
This is the first time that a British Navy ship has seized such sophisticated weapons from Iran, the statement added.
“The export of arms by Britain to coalition forces was one of the reasons for the continuation of the inhumane war in Yemen. And the British government does not have the moral authority to criticize Iran”, added the Iranian spokesman.
Since 2014, the conflict in Yemen has pitted the government, backed by the Saudi-led military coalition since 2015, against the Houthis, who control parts of the north and west of the country and the capital, Sanaa.
