French FM's accusation of arms for Yemen 'a big lie': Iran

Rasa - Iran has rejected France's accusation that Tehran was sending weapons to Yemen, saying the EU's arming of Saudi Arabia and accusing others will prove futile.

News ID: 437037

Date: 30 March 2018 - 22:11

RNA - Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi made the remarks on Thursday in response to French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's claim that Yemen’s Houthi fighters were "supplied with arms by Iran."

Qassemi described Le Drian's claim as "false and a big lie the repetition of which by some regional and extra-regional countries will not change the Islamic Republic of Iran's resolve to enlighten the world public opinion about one of the worst humanitarian disasters and war crimes in contemporary history and the oppression of Yemen's defenseless people."

"Arming the aggressor and accusing others will go nowhere and the awakened consciences of the world people will be the ultimate witnesses and judges," he said.

Qassemi also said non-stop daily attacks by Saudi warplanes on the Yemeni people have benefited the economies of the countries that are exporting weapons to the kingdom.

"The people of the countries that are selling arms to Saudi Arabia should know that their respective governments are complicit in the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and should be held accountable for providing Riyadh with the most advanced weapons," he said.

The Iranian spokesman further advised French statesmen to learn from the past and think a bit about humanity instead of focusing on arms sales to the aggressors.

On Tuesday, Saudi UN Ambassador Abdullah al-Muallami submitted a letter to the Security Council demanding that Iran be held accountable for allegedly supplying Yemen’s Houthi fighters with ballistic missiles.

According to Press TV, his Iranian counterpart, Gholamali Khoshrou, rejected baseless Saudi allegations and urged the kingdom to stop “warmon/940gering” and engage, instead, in dialog with its neighbor.

On Monday, the Saudi-led coalition, which is engaged in a bloody military campaign against Yemen, displayed the wreckage of what it claimed fragments from ballistic missiles supplied to the Houthis by Iran.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) stressed that the accusations are aimed at diverting attention from Riyadh’s war crimes in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and its allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015. The military campaign has killed and injured over 600,000 civilians, according to the latest figures released by the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights.

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