kayhan.ir

News ID: 47645
Publish Date : 16 December 2017 - 21:36
Iran’s Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Jazayeri:

U.S. Ignorant About Yemen’s Missile Capabilities




TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iranian officials on Saturday continued to vehemently reject alleged pieces of what the U.S. said were Iranian weapons supplied to the Houthi fighters in Yemen.
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri denounced the allegations made on Thursday by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley as "absurd”.
"This person’s comments have roots in her lack of understanding of military issues,” Brigadier General Jazayeri said.
"If the Americans had been informed of the high level of the Yemeni resistance’s missile technology, they would have refused to make such absurd comments,” he added.
During her press conference on Thursday, Haley appeared standing before parts of a ballistic missile that she claimed Iran delivered to the Houthis who then fired it at the Riyadh airport in Saudi Arabia last month.
A Houthi military spokesman heavily criticized U.S. charges that Iran was funneling missiles to the Yemeni fighters battling Saudi aggression.
Muhammad Abdul Salam said late Friday on Twitter that Washington is "fabricating lies" to escape the repercussions of its recent decision to recognize the contested city of Jerusalem Al-Quds as the so-called capital of Israel, a move that triggered protests in the Arab and Muslim world including in Yemen.
The U.S. said Thursday it had "undeniable" evidence that Tehran was violating international law.
Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif on Saturday dismissed the allegations as"baseless", saying they were an attempt by Washington to whitewash its war crimes in the Middle East.
"In an attempt to cover up its presence in the region and measures which can mostly amount to war crimes, the U.S. levels baseless allegations against the Islamic Republic of Iran by displaying a piece of metal," Zarif told reporters in Tehran.
Zarif said the claims aimed to deflect attention from U.S. complicity in the crimes committed in the Middle East, particularly in Yemen, and from U.S. President Donald Trump's "very dangerous move" to recognize Al-Quds as Israel’s "capital.”
The top Iranian diplomat further said the U.S. made such allegations against Iran while it provided Saudi Arabia with cluster bombs that kill Yemeni civilians, and supported the Saudi regime's blockade on the impoverished country.
What is clear, he emphasized, is that American bombs are being dropped on the Yemeni people and "this is a fact that no one can conceal."