New York, March 30 – Rejecting Saudi Arabia's accusations that Iran was sending missiles to Yemen as ' baseless', Iran's UN envoy said such accusations are aimed at distracting world public opinion from Saudi crimes in Yemen.
In a letter to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and chairperson of the Security Council Thursday night, Gholamali Khoshroo said the claims and threats made by the spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition ran counter to the UN Charter which prohibits use of force or threats.
'The usual scenario for the political and military authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been to repeat their unfounded assumptions and allegations followed by the threat to use force against a United Nations member state in clear defiance of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter,' he said.
The Article 2(4) of the UN Charter urges all Members to 'refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.'
Strongly opposing 'all biased and false claims in this regard', Khoshroo wrote, 'As Yemen is under total blockade by the Saudi-led coalition, the possibility of smuggling ballistic missiles is an unfounded and imaginary claim.'
'Accusing Iran of providing or smuggling missiles to one of the parties to the conflict in Yemen is nothing but an attempt to conceal the brutal and unlawful aggression in Yemen and the extremely appalling situation caused by such aggression, including the indiscriminate targeting of civilians and humanitarian blockade that continues to impose the intolerable suffering on the Yemeni people,' the letter said.
The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Iran to UN strongly called on the Saudi regime 'to immediately put an end to its destabilizing policies in the region, including its military intervention as well as its starvation campaign in Yemen' urging all parties in Yemen to pursue diplomatic ways and means to resolve the conflict.
Khoshroo also wrote, 'It is tragic that the three Permanent Members of the Security Council who raised smuggling allegations against Iran in tandem with the Saudi regime are the ones who are selling billions of dollars of deadly, advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia that are regularly used against civilians and civilian targets in Yemen.'
He also requested the international community to 'stand up against these tired, misleading accusations of the Saudi regime against others and hold Saudi regime leaders accountable for their criminal acts wherein intervening can effectively end the senseless aerial attacks, stop the selling of arms to Saudi, establish a ceasefire, ensure the delivery of humanitarian and medical assistance to the people of Yemen without any discrimination, and restore peace and stability to this country through Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue on national reconciliation without preconditions.'
- (IRNA)
