A spokesman for the Iranian-backed Houthi group dismissed US accusations that the Islamic Republic had supplied a missile fired at Saudi Arabia last month, saying it was an attempt to divert attention from the United States’ decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The statement by the Houthi spokesman came after U.S. envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley presented for the first-time pieces of what she said were Iranian weapons supplied to the Yemeni Houthi rebels, describing it as “undeniable” evidence that Tehran was violating UN resolutions.
The arms presented by Haley included remnants of what the Pentagon said was an Iranian-made short-range ballistic missile fired from Yemen on November 4th at King Khaled International Airport outside Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, as well as a drone and an anti-tank weapon recovered in Yemen by the Saudis. All are proof of Iran’s ongoing involvement in Yemen, yet the Islamic Republic continues to deny supplying its Houthi allies with any weaponry. Ambassador Haley asserted that while the international community continues to focus on the Iranian nuclear agreement, Iran’s aggressive conduct across the region may lead it to become the next North Korea. She said, “Everyone has focused on the nuclear deal and Iran has hidden behind the nuclear deal, constantly threatening to get out of it. But these are the things they’re doing while we’re all looking the other way and these are the things that will be dangerous, that will lead us to the next North Korea if we don’t do something to stop it,” the U.S. ambassador asserted.
Haley concluded her press conference by urging the international community to wake up and unite in confronting the Iranian threat.