Iran to File Complaint at UN against US over Houthi Missile Claims

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley presents evidence that Iran has supplied Yemen’s Houthis with missiles. (Reuters)
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley presents evidence that Iran has supplied Yemen’s Houthis with missiles. (Reuters)
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Iran to File Complaint at UN against US over Houthi Missile Claims

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley presents evidence that Iran has supplied Yemen’s Houthis with missiles. (Reuters)
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley presents evidence that Iran has supplied Yemen’s Houthis with missiles. (Reuters)

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif announced that he would file a complaint at the United Nations against the United States in wake of its accusations last week that Tehran was supplying Yemen’s Houthi militias with missiles.

"The Iranian side will complain to the UN about US allegations about arms transfers to Yemen," Zarif wrote in a recent email to Sputnik, as cited by IRNA news agency.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, presented pieces of Iranian weapons supplied to the Iran-backed Houthis.

During her briefing, she presented damning evidence of Iran’s arming of the Houthis in defiance of UN resolutions. She later called for forging an international coalition to counter Tehran’s threat.

She added that every terrorist organization in the region bears Iran’s hallmark, revealing that the ballistic missile fired against Saudi Arabia “was made in Iran and sent to the Houthis in Yemen.”

Some pieces of Iranian weapons had specific markings indicating they were manufactured in Iran. One shredded piece of metal displayed to reporters bore the logo of Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, an Iranian defense entity under US sanctions.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran, Zarif dismissed the US administration's “baseless” claim as an attempt to cover up its presence in the region.

"Obviously, Haley's remarks were not backed up by evidence and failed to even convince other western states," Zarif said.

The Raja New website, which is close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, however reported that the missile Haley presented in her briefing was indeed a “Qiam” rocket that is manufactured by Iran.

It said however that it was launched towards Syria’s Deir al-Zour region on June 18 as part of a salvo of Revolutionary Guard rockets fired against ISIS positions in the area.

Guards spokesman Ramadan Sharif dismissed Haley’s claims as “silly”, alleging that Yemen had years ago obtained Chinese and North Korean technology to manufacture rockets.

He accused the US of launching a media campaign against Iran in order to justify the unjust America and European actions in the region.

The hostile campaign claims that the Iranian regime is weak and it does not have the ability to manage its own society, he continued. It has however proven otherwise.



Iran Says No Sanctions Relief in US Nuclear Proposal

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File
Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File
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Iran Says No Sanctions Relief in US Nuclear Proposal

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File
Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File

Iran's parliament speaker said on Sunday that the latest US proposal for a nuclear deal does not include the lifting of sanctions, state media reported as negotiations appeared to have hit a roadblock.

The two foes have held five rounds of Omani-mediated talks since April, seeking to replace a landmark agreement between Tehran and world powers that set restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, before US President Donald Trump abandoned the accord in 2018 during his first term, said AFP.

In a video aired on Iranian state TV, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that "the US plan does not even mention the lifting of sanctions".

He called it a sign of dishonesty, accusing the Americans of seeking to impose a "unilateral" agreement that Tehran would not accept.

"The delusional US president should know better and change his approach if he is really looking for a deal," Ghalibaf said.

On May 31, after the fifth round of talks, Iran said it had received "elements" of a US proposal, with officials later taking issue with "ambiguities" in the draft text.

The US and its Western allies have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has consistently denied, insisting that its atomic program was solely for peaceful purposes.

Key issues in the negotiations have been the removal of biting economic sanctions and uranium enrichment.

Tehran says it has the right to enrich uranium under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while the Trump administration has called any Iranian enrichment a "red line".

Trump, who has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran since taking office in January, has repeatedly said it will not be allowed any uranium enrichment under a potential deal.

On Tuesday, Iran's top negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said the country "will not ask anyone for permission to continue enriching uranium".

IAEA meeting

According to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state in the world that enriches uranium up to 60 percent -- close to the 90 percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead.

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the latest US proposal and said enrichment was "key" to Iran's nuclear program.

The IAEA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet in Vienna starting Monday and discuss Iran's nuclear activities.

On Sunday the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran warned it could reduce its level of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if it adopts a resolution against it.

"Certainly, the IAEA should not expect the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue its broad and friendly cooperation," the Iranian agency's spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told state TV.

Araghchi on Friday accused European powers of "opting for malign action against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors", warning on X that "Iran will react strongly against any violation of its rights".

A quarterly report from the IAEA issued last week cited a "general lack of cooperation" from Iran and raised concerns over undeclared nuclear material.

Tehran has rejected the report as politically motivated and based on "forged documents" it said had been provided by its arch foe Israel.