U.N. council mulls condemning Iran over Yemen's Houthis' getting
missiles
Michelle Nichols
4 MIN READ
(Reuters) - - Britain, the United States and
France want the United Nations Security Council to condemn Iran for failing to
stop its ballistic missiles from falling into the hands of Yemen’s Houthi group
and commit to take action over the sanctions violations, according to a draft
resolution seen by Reuters on Saturday.
Followers of the Houthi movement rally to mark
the 'Martyr Day' in Saada, Yemen February 5, 2018. REUTERS/Naif Rahma
The draft text to renew U.N. 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 United States and France
before giving it to the full council on Friday, diplomats said.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has
been lobbying for months for Iran to be held accountable at the United Nations,
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 U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki
Haley, wrote in an essay published in the New York Times on Saturday.
A proxy war is playing out in Yemen between Iran
and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015,
backing government forces fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels. Iran has denied
supplying the Houthis with weapons. The draft U.N. resolution, which needs to
be adopted by Feb. 26, is likely to face resistance from Russia. A resolution
needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States,
France or Britain to pass.
The Russian mission to the United Nations was not
immediately available for comment on the draft resolution.
Independent U.N. 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 U.N. 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.
Haley took her Security Council colleagues to
Washington in January to view pieces of the weapons in a bid to boost the U.S.
case against Iran. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after the
visit that he does not believe there is a case for United Nations action
against Iran. Iran has described the arms displayed in Washington as
“fabricated.”
“Some members of the United Nations don’t want to
hear it because it is further proof that Iran is defying Security Council
resolutions, and the pressure will be on the U.N. to do something about it,”
Haley wrote in the New York Times.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Leslie
Adler
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