Iranian FM Blasts Riyadh's "Dangerous" Allegations as against UN Charter

TEHRAN (defapress)- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lashed out at Saudi Arabia's allegations that Tehran has supplied the Yemeni resistance group Ansarullah with missiles, describing it a violation of the international laws and the UN Charter.

News ID: 66906

Date: 07 November 2017 - 19:45

Zarif made the remarks in a phone conversation with his British counterpart Boris Johnson on Tuesday.

During the phone talks, the two top diplomats also talked about bilateral ties and the latest developments in the region and the world.

Zarif, for his part, warned of Saudi Arabia's provocative measures in the region, and rejected Riyadh's "dangerous allegations as a violation of the international laws and the UN Charter".

The Iranian foreign ministry had earlier dismissed as "baseless" the Saudi-led coalition allegations that Tehran has supplied Yemen with the recent missile that was fired in the recent strike against an airport in Riyadh.

"The Saudis who have not been able to attain their ominous goals in the long war and military aggression put themselves in more bottlenecks using naïve and improper psychological operations by raising stupid, baseless and fully false allegations," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Monday.

He described the Yemenis' reaction as an independent measure whose root causes should be found in the Saudis' aggressions and not another country's move or provocation.

Qassemi advised the Saudi coalition not to project the blame on others, immediately stop attacks against the innocent Yemeni people and pave the ground for Yemeni-Yemeni talks and establishment of peace in that country.

His remarks came after Saudi Arabia accused Iran of being responsible for the ballistic missile launched from Yemen that targeted Riyadh airport on Saturday, warning that it could be "considered an act of war."

The statement came after US President Donald Trump's similar allegations against Iran.

In response, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami and Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari dismissed US officials' allegations about the supply of Iranian missiles to the Yemeni Ansarullah group.

"The US can't accuse Iran of any event that happens in the region, although this is not unlikely of the enemy to raise such accusations," General Hatami said on Sunday.

"The enemy uses any opportunity to level accusations against Iran and we firmly reject it," he added.

"Does anyone ask the US what they supply to Saudi Arabia," General Hatami said.

Meantime, General Jafari dismissed the allegations that Iran has supplied Ansarullah with missiles that hit the Saudi airport as "baseless".

"We don’t have the means and possibility to send missiles to Yemen and the missiles belong to themselves and they have increased their range," he underlined.

General Jafari said that the allegations are of a series of "baseless remarks and allegations" that US President Donald Trump has leveled against Iran.

Late on Saturday, a Riyadh-based press outlet reported that Saudi Arabia's air force had intercepted a ballistic missile which had been fired from Yemen over the Saudi capital. Trump, responding to the attack, expressed his support for the Saudi-led coalition and put the blame on Iran.

Ansarullah movement claimed responsibility for firing a long-range ballistic missile that travelled more than 800km over the border with Saudi Arabia.

A spokesman for Ansarullah told Al Jazeera they launched a Burkan 2-H missile towards Riyadh late on Saturday, a Scud-type missile with a range of more than 800km.

"The capital cities of countries that continually shell us, targeting innocent civilians, will not be spared from our missiles,” the spokesman said.

Al Masirah, a TV network run by Ansarullah, also claimed responsibility for the attack on their social media account.