Yemen plans UN complaint over Iran weapons transfers: minister
Yemen plans to complain to the U.N. Security Council over what it says are Iran's weapon transfers to Houthi allies fighting the internationally recognized Yemeni government, the foreign minister said on September 24.
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| Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi speaks to media after the Yemen peace talks in Switzerland in Bern December 20, 2015. |
Yemen and Saudi Arabia - which intervened in the country in March 2015 to prevent the Houthis and forces loyal to the former president from taking over - blame Shi'ite Iran for supplying weapons to the Houthis.
Tehran views the Houthis, who hail from a Shi'ite sect, as the legitimate authority in Yemen but denies accusations it supplies them with weapons.
The U.N. mission in Iran did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest accusation.
"There are new weapons coming from Iran," Mekhlafi said in New York where he was attending the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders.
"It is impossible to hide that weapons-smuggling is still taking place from Iran. Some of these weapons have been found on the Saudi-Yemeni border and they are Iranian weapons," he said.
Mekhlafi said his government was in the process of filing a complaint to the Security Council, with evidence including documents and pictures.
U.N.-sponsored talks to try to end 18 months of fighting that has killed at least 10,000 people collapsed last month.
The foreign minister said President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi had met with U.S. and U.N. officials this week and had agreed in principle to a 72-hour ceasefire.
"He (Hadi) asked that the ceasefire be taken advantage of by lifting the unjust siege of Taiz and for food to enter simultaneously," Mekhlafi said, referring to a city in the country's highlands. The government was waiting for the U.N. envoy to speak with the Houthi side to secure those guarantees, he added.
