Pentagon spokeswoman Laura Seal said the U.S. has long believed that Iran is providing weaponry to proxies and partners and militias throughout the region, and what we have here to show you today is proof – Photo compiled by Egypt Today/Mohamed Zain
CAIRO – 14 December 2017: The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday presented an Iran manufactured missile that said to be supplied to the Iran-aligned Houthi militia in Yemen.
According to Reuters, fragments of weaponry on display at a military hangar at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, just outside of Washington, explained how the missiles were concluded that it came, along with the other presented arms, from Iran.
A missile that the U.S. Department of Defense says is confirmed as a "Qiam" ballistic missile manufactured in Iran by its distinctively Iranian nine fueling ports and that the Pentagon says was fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen into Saudi Arabia on July 22, 2017 is seen on display at a military base in Washington, U.S. December 13, 2017. Picture taken December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Bourg
“The arms included charred remnants of what the Pentagon said was an Iranian-made short-range ballistic missile fired from Yemen on Nov. 4 at King Khaled International Airport outside Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh,” Reuters reported.
The fragments also included a drone and an anti-tank weapon recovered in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.
The unprecedented presentation of weaponry is part of following through on U.S. President Donald Trump’s new policy against Iran.
In October, Trump gave a heavily advertised speech on Iran policy; he claimed it to be unveiling “a new strategy to address the full range of Iran's destructive actions.”
A journalist photographs the guidance system of a missile bearing the logo of Iranian arms manufacturer that the U.S. Defense Department says proves that the weapon was manufactured in Iran but was also fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen into Saudi Arabia in July 2016, as it sits on display at a military base in Washington, U.S., December 13, 2017. Picture taken December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Bourg
“The U.S. has long believed that Iran is providing weaponry to proxies and partners and militias throughout the region, and what we have here to show you today is proof,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Laura Seal, adding Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had recovered the arms and loaned them to Washington.
According to Reuters, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, was due to see the weapons on Thursday. The U.S. mission to the United Nations said she would offer “irrefutable evidence that Iran has deliberately violated its international obligations.”
Under the UN Security Council resolution that enshrines the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Tehran is prohibited from supplying, selling or transferring weapons outside the country unless approved in advance by the Security Council. Another UN resolution on Yemen bans the supply of weapons to Houthi leader Abul-Malik al-Houthi and any other militia.
The arms were believed by the Pentagon to be supplied by Iran as there are Iranian corporate logos on arms fragments as well as the “unique nature of the designs of Iranian weaponry” that of “unique valve-design”.
The designs included designs of short-range “Qiam” ballistic missiles. The Pentagon said it had obtained fragments of two Qiam missiles, one fired on Nov. 4 against the airport and another fired on July 22.
A missile that the U.S. Department of Defense says is confirmed as a "Qiam" ballistic missile manufactured in Iran by its distinctively Iranian nine fueling ports and that the Pentagon says was fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen into Saudi Arabia on July 22, 2017 is seen on display at a military base in Washington, U.S. December 13, 2017. Picture taken December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Bourg
“The point of this entire display is that only Iran makes this missile. They have not given it to anybody else,” Seal said. “We haven’t seen this in the hands of anyone else except Iran and the Houthis.”
A new U.N. report found that the July 22 and Nov. 4 missiles fired at Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi rebels appeared to have a “common origin.”
For its part, Saudi Arabia welcomed the UN report, according to the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday; it reiterated its condemnation of the Iranian regime for its support of terrorist Houthi militias in their aggressive and terrorist practices and their coup against legitimacy.
Saudi Arabia also condemned the Iranian regime for the violations of international resolutions, including Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, which prohibit supplying weapons to any extra-state militias in Lebanon (under Chapter VII), as well as Security Council resolutions 2231 and 2216, Al-Arabiya reported.
A missile guidance system circuit board bearing the SHIG logo of Iranian arms manufacturer Shahid Hemmat Industries Group, which the U.S. Defense Department says proves the weapon was manufactured in Iran before the Pentagon says it was fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen into Saudi Arabia in July 2016, is seen under a magnifying glass as it sits on display at a military base in Washington, U.S., December 13, 2017. Picture taken December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Bourg
The Saudi Kingdom called upon the international community to take immediate action to ensure the implementation of the UN resolutions, which Iran violated, and to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its violations.
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