NEW YORK (Dispatches) -- Iran’s ambassador to the UN has rejected allegations of the Islamic Republic having violated the UN arms embargo on Yemen as “entirely unfounded”.
“The allegation that Iran is violating the UN arms embargo on Yemen is entirely unfounded,” Amir Saeed Iravani told the UN Security Council’s meeting on strengthening maritime security.
“Iran has consistently rejected any involvement in activities that would contravene relevant Security Council resolutions,” he added.
His remarks came shortly after the acting U.S. representative to the UN, Dorothy Shea, accused Tehran of violating a UN’s arms embargo on Yemen through supporting the Arab country’s Ansarullah resistance movement.
She alleged that Ansarullah fighters “were able to threaten Red Sea maritime traffic” largely due to what she described as “Iran’s defiance of the UN arms embargo” on Yemen. 
Iravani “categorically” rejected “the baseless, politically motivated accusations made by the representatives of the United States and the Israeli regime.”
Washington’s accusations are both “misleading” and a deliberate attempt “to distort the realities in the region in order to deflect attention from the root causes of instability and insecurity in the Red Sea and beyond,” he said.
“Iran has consistently emphasized that enduring maritime stability requires inclusive regional cooperation,” he said. 
Iran asserts that lasting maritime stability depends on inclusive regional cooperation, but unilateral U.S. sanctions undermine such a goal by disrupting legal trade, seizing Iranian oil, and violating international law, he said. 
“Maritime security must not be selective or subject to unilateral interpretations. It must be upheld universally, based on international law, non-discrimination, and full respect for state sovereignty,” Iravani stressed.
Iran, he said, remains fully committed to international maritime law and cooperates with all responsible stakeholders to ensure sea lanes remain open, secure, and governed by the rule of law, not by the rule of force.