Friday, 15 December 2017

Iran: US Presentation of Iranian Arms in Yemen Fabricated

Iran Likens Allegation to Powell's Pre-Iraq War WMD Speech


Jason Ditz 



The Iranian government has issued a statement Thuesday denying that a presentation earlier in the day by the US represented proof that they’d been sending arms to the Shi’ite Houthis in Yemen to resist the US-backed Saudi invasion, saying it was a ‘fabrication.”

The US presentation centered on a short-range ballistic missile fired by Yemen at the Riyadh airport, which US officials claim was Iranian-made and Iranian-sent. US Ambassador Nikki Haley talked up building a new coalition against Iran.

The missile didn’t come with any specific evidence that it was of Iranian-origin, and indeed Yemen has insisted since the firing it was a missile of their own design. The Saudis initially blamed Iran, and the US presented Iran’s guilt as self-evident.

Even with evidence, it’s not clear how damning such an arms shipment would be. After all, of the countless bombs dropped on Yemen over the past two and a half years, the vast majority were US arms provided to the Saudi government. Though it’s not at all clear Iran has anywhere near that sort of relationship with the Houthis, a single missile hardly seems earth-shattering.

Iran’s Foreign Minister likened Haley’s presentation to Colin Powell’s 2003 WMD speech about Iraq, which precipitated the disastrous US invasion and occupation of Iraq.


http://news.antiwar.com/2017/12/14/iran-us-presentation-of-iranian-arms-in-yemen-fabricated/

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