Zarif Rejects New US Claim about Iran Missile Supply to Yemen
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denounced the recent remarks by US officials about Iran’s missile support for Yemen, stressing that the administration of President Donald Trump is again fabricating “evidence” to create an Iranphobic narrative at the UN.
“A while ago US showed a Saudi-supplied Iranian missile intact. They must've been told a missile destroyed by a Patriot does not land fully assembled. So now US shows UNSC missile fragments w/ Iranian Standard Institute logo, as on our foodstuffs. Try fabricating ‘evidence’ again,” Zarif said in a message posted on his official Twitter account on Tuesday.
The remarks came after Trump escalated efforts to put pressure on Iran on Monday, taking ambassadors from the United Nations Security Council on a field trip to inspect what American officials called remnants of Iranian missiles and other weaponry supplied to Houthis in Yemen.
On December 14, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki 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. With allied Yemeni army troops and tribal fighters, the Houthis have been fighting back a Saudi-led aggression since March 2015.
In another tweet in reaction to the US show, Zarif said, “In the fake news department, Trump & Co. attempt to create an Iranphobic narrative at the UN Security Council—through wining and dining and fake “evidence” provided by a warring neighbor—that would pass muster with only the same desperate neighbor & its accomplices in war crimes.”