The Urgency of Addressing Iran’s Nuclear Threat

[webfact]

Exclusive - Yemen rebel missiles fired at Saudi Arabia appear Iranian: U.N.

By Michelle Nichols

 

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Remnants of four ballistic missiles fired into Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi rebels this year appear to have been designed and manufactured by Riyadh's regional rival Iran, a confidential report by United Nations sanctions monitors said, bolstering a push by the United States to punish the Tehran government.

 

The independent panel of U.N. monitors, in a Nov. 24 report to the Security Council seen by Reuters on Thursday, said it "as yet has no evidence as to the identity of the broker or supplier" of the missiles, which were likely shipped to the Houthis in violation of a targeted U.N. arms embargo imposed in April 2015.

 

Earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused Iran of supplying Houthi rebels with a missile that was fired into Saudi Arabia in July and called for the United Nations to hold Tehran accountable for violating two U.N. Security Council resolutions.

 

The report said that monitors had visited two Saudi Arabian military bases to see remnants gathered by authorities from missile attacks on Saudi Arabia on May 19, July 22, July 26 and Nov. 4.

 

They also visited four "impact points" from the Nov. 4 attack where other remnants of the missiles were identified.

 

"Design characteristics and dimensions of the components inspected by the panel are consistent with those reported for the Iranian designed and manufactured Qiam-1 missile," the monitors wrote.

 

The Qiam-1 has a range of almost 500 miles and can carry a 1,400-pound warhead, according to GlobalSecurity.org public policy organization.

 

Saudi-led forces, which back the Yemeni government, have fought the Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen's more than two-year-long civil war. Saudi Arabia's crown prince has described Iran's supply of rockets to the Houthis as "direct military aggression" that could be an act of war.

 

SMUGGLING ROUTE

 

Iran has denied supplying the Houthis with weapons, saying the U.S. and Saudi allegations are "baseless and unfounded." Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. monitors report.

 

Another ballistic missile was shot down on Thursday near the southwestern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya channel reported.

 

The U.N. monitors said they gathered evidence that the missiles were transferred to Yemen in pieces and assembled there by missile engineers with the Houthis and allied forces loyal to Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

 

"The panel has not yet seen any evidence of external missile specialists working in Yemen in support of the Houthi-Saleh engineers," the monitors wrote.

 

They visited Saudi Arabia after the monitors called on the coalition to provide evidence backing Riyadh's claim that Iran was supplying missiles to the Houthis, warning that a failure to do so would violate a U.N. resolution.

 

They said the missiles most likely were smuggled into Yemen along "the land routes from Oman or Ghaydah and Nishtun in al Mahrah governorate (in Yemen) after ship-to-shore transshipment to small dhows, a route that has already seen limited seizures of anti-tank guided weapons."

 

The monitors also said that while "concealment in cargo of vessels offloading in the Red Sea ports is unlikely, it cannot be excluded as an option."

 

The Saudi-led coalition used the Nov. 4 missile attack to justify a blockade of Yemen for several weeks, saying it was needed to stem the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran.

 

The United Nations had said the blockade could spark the largest famine the world has seen in decades. Some 7 million people in Yemen are on the brink of famine, and nearly 900,000 have been infected with cholera.

 

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by John Walcott and Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-01

[Andaman Al]

Saudi Missiles and bombs dropped on Yemen appear.......American and British.

 

So what's the point that is being made.

[Morch]

4 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

Saudi Missiles and bombs dropped on Yemen appear.......American and British.

 

So what's the point that is being made.

 

Point is that Iran denies alleged support?

[RuamRudy]

3 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Point is that Iran denies alleged support?

Deny or admit - what is the difference? I am sure that western spooks have a good idea what the Iranians are up to, and Iran has never been one to pay much attention to western perceptions of its behaviour. 

 

At least the British are finally being honest about their reason for supporting the Saudis:

Tories claim there'll be 'significant job losses' if Britain stops selling weapons to Saudi Arabia

 

[Ron19]

An off topic post has been removed.

[Morch]

7 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

Deny or admit - what is the difference? I am sure that western spooks have a good idea what the Iranians are up to, and Iran has never been one to pay much attention to western perceptions of its behaviour. 

 

At least the British are finally being honest about their reason for supporting the Saudis:

Tories claim there'll be 'significant job losses' if Britain stops selling weapons to Saudi Arabia

 

 

I doubt you are not aware of circumstances, hence "what is the difference?" is clearly disingenuous. And the same goes for the counterfactual claim about Iran "never been one to pay much attention to western perceptions of its behaviour".  Spin this as much as you like, but the topic ain't about the UK.

[punchjudy]

the saudis have been well beaten on all proxy fronts and now have missiles flying into their back yard.

 

 

[Bluespunk]

Shocker, who would have thought iran would support a group firing missiles into their only real regional rival. 

 

Am alliteratively astonished.  

[RuamRudy]

1 hour ago, Morch said:

I doubt you are not aware of circumstances, hence "what is the difference?" is clearly disingenuous. And the same goes for the counterfactual claim about Iran "never been one to pay much attention to western perceptions of its behaviour".  Spin this as much as you like, but the topic ain't about the UK.

I thought my point was quite clear - regardless of the public representation of the protagonists, they will continue with their proxy wars unfazed. Further, I implied that, while there may be ideological roots behind the conflict, it is clear that some parties see it as more of a business opportunity. 

[Morch]

54 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

I thought my point was quite clear - regardless of the public representation of the protagonists, they will continue with their proxy wars unfazed. Further, I implied that, while there may be ideological roots behind the conflict, it is clear that some parties see it as more of a business opportunity. 

 

Thing is, I don't think you had a point, other than slipping in the obligatory Western bash. Iran does go to great lengths denying its involvement in conflict and terrorist actions abroad, it does stand the risk of having further sanctions being applied and the whole thing undermines it's position with regard to its ballistic program being aimed for self defense. 

 

This topic is about Saudi Arabia, Iran and Yemen . There wasn't much said about sides seeing it as a "business opportunity". The "British" are neither a protagonist, nor a "party", with reference to this conflict. Try harder.

 

 

[RuamRudy]

4 minutes ago, Morch said:

Thing is, I don't think you had a point, other than slipping in the obligatory Western bash. 

Pointless? I think you are correct there, other than my empathising with the somewhat nihilistic perspective of Andaman Al. So, a  weary, figurative shrug, if you will. I shall sit out further comment and await ongoing enlightenment. 

[Andaman Al]

15 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

26 minutes ago, Morch said:

Thing is, I don't think you had a point, other than slipping in the obligatory Western bash. 

Pointless? I think you are correct there, other than my empathising with the somewhat nihilistic perspective of Andaman Al. So, a  weary, figurative shrug, if you will. I shall sit out further comment and await ongoing enlightenment.

Don't you wrap me up in to your disagreement with Morch thank you. And just what exactly about saying "and the Saudis are firing missiles supplied by Brits and Americans' is nihilistic.

 

The arms industry IS A BUSINESS. What does it matter who supplies who. Are Iran responsible for what the Houthi's do for providing the weapons? If so shall we provide the same standard for the US arming ISIS to the teeth because they armed Syrian rebels who funnily enough 'rebelled'? Shall the UK and USA take responsibility for all the kurds that Saddam Hussein gassed because we supplied the chemical weapons capability. Unfortunately NOBODY is clean in the arms industry because the mission statement is basically to provide a product that is capable of killing any humans and the weapon will do that indiscriminately. The cries of 'the Russians provided this, the Chinese provided that, the Iranians provided this etc is all a nonsense. You do realise there is a department in the US that buys up ship loads of Russian armaments through third parties so that they can be supplied to customers in 'need'. Who do we blame then when we find the weapons caches.....The Russians. But anything to make a dollar. If the customer wants Russian because they think its cheaper or better, then buy Russian and sell it to them.  The fact is in the arms trade NOTHING is what it seems and identifying the manufacturer of a particular weapon or system is no indication of who actually sold it to who. Arms industry 101.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Andaman Al

[RuamRudy]

6 minutes ago, Andaman Al said:

Don't you wrap me up in to your disagreement with Morch thank you. And just what exactly about saying "and the Saudis are firing missiles supplied by Brits and Americans' is nihilistic.

 

The arms industry IS A BUSINESS. What does it matter who supplies who. Are Iran responsible for what the Houthi's do for providing the weapons? If so shall we provide the same standard for the US arming ISIS to the teeth because they armed Syrian rebels who funnily enough 'rebelled'? Shall the UK and USA take responsibility for all the kurds that Saddam Hussein gassed because we supplied the chemical weapons capability. Unfortunately NOBODY is clean in the arms industry because the mission statement is basically to provide a product that is capable of killing any humans and the weapon will do that indiscriminately. The cries of 'the Russians provided this, the Chinese provided that, the Iranians provided this etc is all a nonsense. You do realise there is a department in the US that buys up ship loads of Russian armaments through third parties so that they can be supplied to customers in 'need'. Who do we blame then when we find the weapons caches.....The Russians. But anything to make a dollar. If the customer wants Russian because they think its cheaper or better, then buy Russian and sell it to them.  The fact is in the arms trade NOTHING is what it seems and identifying the manufacturer of a particular weapon or system is no indication of who actually sold it to who. Arms industry 101.

I think that we are violently agreeing with each other, albeit you have more depth of knowledge in the area. My throwaway comment about nihilism is because I see no way out of it - merely another never ending story  routinely tainted with the propaganda and spin relative to your news source and location. Anyway, no offence intended - apologies if it was taken wrongly.

[Morch]

3 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

Don't you wrap me up in to your disagreement with Morch thank you. And just what exactly about saying "and the Saudis are firing missiles supplied by Brits and Americans' is nihilistic.

 

The arms industry IS A BUSINESS. What does it matter who supplies who. Are Iran responsible for what the Houthi's do for providing the weapons? If so shall we provide the same standard for the US arming ISIS to the teeth because they armed Syrian rebels who funnily enough 'rebelled'? Shall the UK and USA take responsibility for all the kurds that Saddam Hussein gassed because we supplied the chemical weapons capability. Unfortunately NOBODY is clean in the arms industry because the mission statement is basically to provide a product that is capable of killing any humans and the weapon will do that indiscriminately. The cries of 'the Russians provided this, the Chinese provided that, the Iranians provided this etc is all a nonsense. You do realise there is a department in the US that buys up ship loads of Russian armaments through third parties so that they can be supplied to customers in 'need'. Who do we blame then when we find the weapons caches.....The Russians. But anything to make a dollar. If the customer wants Russian because they think its cheaper or better, then buy Russian and sell it to them.  The fact is in the arms trade NOTHING is what it seems and identifying the manufacturer of a particular weapon or system is no indication of who actually sold it to who. Arms industry 101.

 

I get your arms industry angle, but this isn't what the OP is about. The point is Iran denied involvement and support with regard to Yemen. And no, I don't think there's much doubt as to who provided such an Iranian made missile, it not like there's a lively market in them independent of Iran. If it was, as you illustrated, Russian made, perhaps less clear cut. 

[Stargeezr]

Isn't there writing in a book that thinks the next big and maybe Last war will start in the Middle East.   Well Yemen is a country in the ME and being that It is about the poorest country, it seems possible that the fighting there may escalate. It seems that there has to be a convenient war some where for the weapons manufacturers to sell their weapons to.

Geezer