FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/NATIONAL SECURITY/UN: “A United Nations panel has concluded that Iran violated an arms embargo imposed on Yemen by failing to prevent the Houthi rebels in that war-ravaged nation from obtaining Iranian missiles, including one fired hundreds of miles into Saudi Arabia two months ago.
The findings, in a report given to the United Nations Security Council this week, could add weight to American and Saudi efforts to ostracize Iran with accusations that the Iranians are engaged in destabilizing behavior in the Middle East.
The findings, which have not been made public, were first reported on Friday [1-12-18] by Agence France-Presse and confirmed by Security Council diplomats who had seen copies of the report… The United Nations panel’s report did not say Iran had supplied missiles to the Houthis. But by failing to keep such weapons out of Yemen, the report said, ‘the Islamic Republic of Iran is in noncompliance’ with Resolution 2216, adopted nearly three years ago after the war between the Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed government in Yemen had begun.
An arms-embargo provision of that resolution requires all member states to ‘take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to’ designated Yemeni combatants including the Houthis… There was no immediate comment from Iran on the United Nations report, which was prepared by experts for a Council panel responsible for monitoring compliance with the arms embargo.”
-Rick Gladstone, “Iran Violated Yemen Arms Embargo, U.N. Experts Say,” The New York Times online, Jan. 12, 2018