US complicit in Saudi war crimes in Yemen: Iran's Zarif

Rasa - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the United States is complicit in Saudi war crimes in Yemen amid Washington's baseless claim that Tehran is providing supply of ballistic missiles to Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement.

News ID: 435352

Date: 15 December 2017 - 18:06

RNA - "No amount of alternative facts or alternative evidence covers up US complicity in war crimes," Zarif said in a post on his official Twitter account on Friday.

He added that the US has sold weapons to its allies enabling them to "kill civilians and impose famine," in reference to Washington's arms deal with Riyadh in its aggression against Yemen.

The top Iranian diplomat emphasized that Iran has been calling for "ceasefire, aid and dialogue" in Yemen since the conflict began in the impoverished country.

The Iranian foreign minister's post came after US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley claimed Thursday that a missile the Yemeni army had fired at Saudi Arabia last month was supplied by Tehran.

In a statement released on Thursday, Iran's UN mission categorically dismissed Haley's claim as "unfounded" and said, "This purported evidence ... is as much fabricated as the one presented on some other occasions earlier."

The Iranian Ambassador to the UN, Gholam Ali Khoshroo, also rejected his American counterpart’s claims and said the “show” Haley put up earlier in the day was merely meant to cover up Washington’s own supply lethal weapons to the Saudi regime, which have resulted in the deaths of Yemeni women and children.

“Iran wants peace, dialog and an immediate ceasefire and a halt to bombardments” against Yemen, said the senior diplomat, emphasizing that the US “must, above all, end its arms sales to Saudi Arabia.”

On November 4, a missile fired from Yemen targeted the King Khalid International Airport near Riyadh, reaching the Saudi capital for the first time.

The Houthi movement, which has been fighting back a Saudi aggression, said it had fired the missile but the Riyadh regime was quick to point the finger at Iran.

Tehran rejected the allegations as “provocative and baseless,” saying the Yemenis had shown an “independent” reaction to the Saudi bombing campaign on their country.

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