France Press: The UN Has Not Yet Confirmed the Connection Between Houthi Missiles and Iran

On Monday, December 20, France Press reported, citing a "confidential UN report," that the organization's experts are still "analyzing data and information" and have not yet confirmed the connection between Houthi missiles and Iran. The first missile fired by Houthi militants in Yemen, supported by the Islamic Republic, towards Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, sparked a wave of controversy and hostility between Tehran and Riyadh, which has also extended to Lebanon and continues. From the outset, Riyadh blamed the Islamic Republic for the missile launch and accused Tehran of providing the missile to the Houthi militants, an accusation that Tehran denied. In this context, ten days ago, France Press reported based on a "confidential" UN report that the missile fired by the Shia Houthis towards Riyadh "likely has connections to the Shahid Baqeri Industrial Group," which manufactures some of Iran's missiles. Now, the same news agency reports based on another "confidential" report it received on Monday that it is still unclear whether the missile in question is connected to Iran. According to this report, the UN Secretary-General has informed the Security Council that the missiles fired by the Houthis on July 22 and November 4 both have characteristics "similar to" Scud missiles. The Qiam missile, also an Iranian-made missile, is one of the types of Scud missiles. According to this report, which was sent to the Security Council last Friday, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, wrote: "The missiles have similar structural and production characteristics, indicating that their source is the same." However, Mr. Guterres does not make any definitive conclusions in this report and only emphasizes that UN experts are still "carefully analyzing data and information." The Secretary-General also "notes that experts have seen the logo of [the Shahid Baqeri Industrial Group]." A group of UN experts traveled to Riyadh last month to inspect and review the remnants of missiles fired by the Houthis in Yemen. The experts' report states that a piece of a missile fired on November 4, about a month ago, "bears logo markings similar to those of the Shahid Baqeri Industrial Group." The Shahid Baqeri Industrial Group, whose name is listed in the US and EU sanctions against Iran's ballistic missile activities, is a subsidiary of Iran's aerospace industries. France Press states that UN experts in Saudi Arabia have also examined the remnants of two drones collected in Yemen, but they have "not confirmed Riyadh's claim that one of the drones is Iranian." Last month, the US permanent representative to the UN also stated, based on information received from Saudi Arabia, that a missile fired last summer "was of the Qiam type and had not been seen before the war in Yemen." Meanwhile, Iran has consistently denied sending weapons and ammunition to the Houthis but recently acknowledged its advisory presence in Yemen. Sending weapons to the Houthis violates both the UN arms embargo on Yemen and Iran's arms sales sanctions.