MP: Trump's attempt to demonize Iran ‘beating the air'

Rasa - A senior Iranian lawmaker says US President Donald Trump's effort to demonize Iran by accusing the Islamic Republic of supplying ballistic missiles to Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah fighters is futile and an example of "beating the air."

News ID: 436100

Date: 29 January 2018 - 19:49

RNA - "Trump is making desperate efforts to portray a negative image of the Islamic Republic of Iran and I believe these measures are [like] beating the air," Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi told reporters on Sunday.

He pointed to his recent visit to Brussels, which took place at the invitation of the European Parliament, saying that European countries have no positive view of measures taken by US officials, particularly Trump.

"They were critical of Trump's performance in domestic, foreign and regional policies. Therefore, it seems that Trump wants to portray a negative image of Iran given widespread criticism of him, his performance, and the influence that the Zionist regime sways over him," the senior Iranian lawmaker said.

Boroujerdi emphasized that the claim by US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley about Iran providing Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah fighters with ballistic missiles was in line with measures taken by the Israel-Saudi Arabia-US triangle.

On December 14, Haley presented what she claimed to be "undeniable" evidence, including the allegedly recovered pieces of a Yemeni missile, saying it proved that Iran was violating international law by giving missiles to the Houthi Ansarullah movement. The Houthis have been fighting back a Saudi-led aggression with allied Yemeni army troops and tribal fighters since March 2015.

A few days later, she said that the UN Security Council could strengthen the provisions in Resolution 2231, which was approved in July 2015 to endorse the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran, or adopt a new resolution banning Tehran from all activities related to ballistic missiles.

Iran's UN mission categorically dismissed Haley's allegations against the Islamic Republic as "unfounded," stressing that "this purported evidence ... is as much fabricated as the one presented on some other occasions earlier."

"These accusations seek also to cover up the Saudi war crimes in Yemen with the US complicity, and divert international and regional attention from the stalemate war of aggression against the Yemenis," the mission said in a statement.

United Nations Security Council envoys are set to visit a military hangar in Washington on Monday, where the US envoy to the UN presented the remnants of an alleged Iranian-made ballistic missile fired from Yemen on November 4 at the King Khalid International Airport near the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Earlier this month, the chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, dismissed the allegations leveled by the US and its allies about the Islamic Republic’s provision of missiles to Yemeni forces.

"Missiles fired at Saudi Arabia belong to Yemen, which have been overhauled and their range has been increased," Jafari said.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, also in December dismissed as "baseless and ridiculous" Haley's claim, saying even international experts have mocked the accusation.

He added that the US diplomat lacks the least information required to comment on international issues, adding, "She is similar to her boss (US President Donald Trump) who makes unfounded remarks based on absurd information."

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