UN Security Council May Condemn Iran for Supplying Houthis with Missiles

  • 2/18/2018
  • 00:00
  • 7
  • 0
  • 0
news-picture

The United Nations Security Council is considering condemning Iran for supplying Yemen’s Houthi militias with missiles, said a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Saturday. Drafted by Britain, the United States and France, the document also calls for committing to take action over the sanctions violations. The draft text to renew UN sanctions on Yemen for another year would also allow the 15-member council to impose targeted sanctions for “any activity related to the use of ballistic missiles in Yemen.” Britain drafted the resolution in consultation with the US and France before giving it to the full council on Friday, diplomats said. US President Donald Trump’s administration has been lobbying for months for Iran to be held accountable at the UN, while at the same time threatening to quit a 2015 deal among world powers to curb Iran’s nuclear program if “disastrous flaws” are not fixed. “Since the signing of the nuclear agreement, the Iranian regime’s support of dangerous militias and terror groups has markedly increased. Its missiles and advanced weapons are turning up in war zones all across the Middle East,” the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, wrote in an essay published in the New York Times on Saturday. The draft UN resolution, which needs to be adopted by February 26, is likely to face resistance from Russia. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the US, France or Britain to pass. Independent UN experts monitoring the sanctions on Yemen reported to the Security Council in January that it had “identified missile remnants, related military equipment and military unmanned aerial vehicles that are of Iranian origin and were brought into Yemen after the imposition of the targeted arms embargo.” While the experts said they have “no evidence as to the identity of the supplier, or any intermediary third party” of the missiles fired by the Houthis into neighboring Saudi Arabia, they found Iran had violated sanctions by failing to prevent the supply, sale or transfer of the missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles to the Houthis. The UN Security Council has banned the supply of weapons to Houthi leaders and “those acting on their behalf or at their direction.” It can also blacklist individuals and entities for threatening the peace and stability of Yemen or hindering aid access. Earlier this week, Haley said it was "time for the Security Council to act" following the release of the UN report on Iran’s violation of the arms embargo on Yemen. "This report highlights what weve been saying for months: Iran has been illegally transferring weapons in violation of multiple Security Council resolutions," Haley said in a statement on Thursday. The ambassador added that "the world cannot continue to allow these blatant violations to go unanswered" and that Tehran must face "consequences." "Its time for the Security Council to act."

مشاركة :