Russia: US hasn’t made a case for new action against Iran

Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says in comments released by Russia’s U.N. Mission late Wednesday that it is unclear whether the pieces that council members saw in Washington this week were Iranian or violated a 2015 arms embargo on Yemen. (Photo By The Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, CC BY 4.0)

Russia’s U.N. ambassador says the United States hasn’t made a case for new Security Council action against Iran with missiles fragments that the Trump administration argues were supplied by Tehran to Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says in comments released by Russia’s U.N. Mission late Wednesday that it is unclear whether the pieces that council members saw in Washington this week were Iranian or violated a 2015 arms embargo on Yemen.

The U.S. maintains the fragments from missiles recovered in Saudi Arabia after being launched from Yemen by the Houthis contain markings proving they were Iranian-made, though some security experts have questioned whether the evidence is foolproof.

Nebenzia says Iran “vehemently” denies supplying weapons to Yemen. He adds that “Yemen hosts a pile of weapons from the old days.”