Iran Rejects Arms Shipment to Yemen

Rasa - Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi categorically denied the recent allegations by the US officials that Tehran has provided the Yemeni army and popular forces with weapons and ammunition to fight their opponents.

News ID: 427179

Date: 06 February 2017 - 23:58

RNA - “Iran seriously and definitely rejects any kind of allegations leveled against it trying to relate the Islamic Republic with the Yemeni Issues,” Qassemi told reporters on Monday.

He reiterated that Iran has no engagement in Yemen, and said, "It has never supplied the Yemeni fighters with weapons."

Qassemi went on to say that those who are familiar with the history of Yemen, specially in the days before the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, know very well that the country used to be divided into two parts.

"Part of Yemen used to be under the Soviet rule and Moscow used to supply the country with advanced weapons and military hardware," he added.

Qassemi noted that the Yemeni people and fighters still have access to such weapons.

"The allegations against Iran and the claims that the Islamic Republic of Iran is funneling weapons for popular forces in Yemen is a new tactic used by some regional countries and the new administration in the US to promote Iranophobia," the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.

In relevant remarks in late December, a source said that ran has not deployed its military forces in Yemen, dismissing media reports claiming that an Iranian officer was killed in the Arab country as "baseless".

"The report by sources affiliated to the fugitive Yemeni president, Mansour Hadi, on the death of an Iranian military officer in Yemen is baseless and sheer lie," the informed source said.

"No Iranian military has been deployed in Yemen," the source added.

Sources affiliated to Hadi had earlier claimed that an Iranian officer was killed and two Lebanese engineers were injured in the Saudi-led coalition's airstrikes against Hajjah province in Northwest of Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 13,100 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

According to several reports, the Saudi-led air campaign against Yemen has driven the impoverished country towards humanitarian disaster.

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