Nikki Haley Calls for Global Action Against Iran

Nikki Haley, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, held a press conference at the Pentagon accusing Iran of sending missiles and weapons to the Houthis in Yemen and called for action from the "global community" against Iran. On Thursday, December 14, she showed reporters a missile that she claimed had been transferred from Saudi Arabia to Washington. She stated that this missile was the same ballistic missile that the Houthis had launched at Riyadh airport. According to this U.S. official, the missile bore the emblem of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group and matched the specifications of Iranian missiles. Nikki Haley emphasized that Iran has violated the Security Council resolution and the JCPOA, stating that countries around the world now see that the JCPOA has not changed Iran's behavior and that Iran continues its "destabilizing" actions in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. According to Nikki Haley, there is no terrorist group in the region that Iran does not support. The U.S. representative also called for global unity against Iran and stated that the U.S. intends to pursue this position in the Security Council. Nikki Haley added that President Donald Trump refrained from signing the JCPOA for this reason and referred it to Congress. The U.S. representative also mentioned that this missile had been fired at a civilian airport in Riyadh and could have resulted in the deaths of hundreds. Previously, French President Emmanuel Macron had also stated that the Houthi missile was "clearly Iranian," while the Russian representative at the UN rejected this accusation, stating that it was unlikely that missiles could be sent to the Houthis. In response, the Iranian mission at the UN on Thursday rejected Nikki Haley's statements, deeming them "irresponsible, provocative, and destructive." Iran has consistently denied accusations of sending missiles to the Houthis. The Iranian mission described the evidence presented by Nikki Haley as "fabricated," stating that "these accusations are also aimed at covering up Saudi war crimes in Yemen." Previously, Aziz Jafari, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, stated, "Today, the sovereignty in Yemen is in the hands of Ansar Allah, and the requests that the Iranian front can respond to are limited to advisory and spiritual assistance, which the spiritual front needs more." Following the internal war in Yemen and the relative dominance of the Shia Houthis, Saudi Arabia, along with its Arab allies, began airstrikes on this country on March 26, 2015, and besieged its ports and passages. Despite the ongoing bombardment by the Saudi coalition, the Houthi rebels still control Sana'a, the capital, and most of the northern country. Since the beginning of the Saudi attacks on Yemen, according to the World Health Organization, 8,750 people, most of whom were civilians, have lost their lives. On Tuesday, Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian coordinator, warned that 8.4 million people in Yemen are on the brink of famine.