US urges Iran to respect UN arms embargo on Yemen

The United States yesterday called on Iran to respect the United Nations Security Council’s newly passed arms embargo on Yemen and stop supporting Shia Houthi rebels there, the Anadolu Agency reported.

“Obviously Iran plays a role here given their support for the Houthis,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters.

“And I think what would be most helpful from the Iranian side at this point is to respect this newly imposed UN arms embargo that was just passed today and stop supporting the Houthis,” she said.

Harf said the US was aware that Iran has been “incredibly destabilising in places in the region”.

The UNSC voted with an overwhelming majority yesterday in favour of a resolution imposing an arms embargo against the Houthi rebels in Yemen and blacklisted the son of Yemen’s former president and a Houthi leader. Russia abstained from the vote.

A Saudi-led coalition launched in March a military offensive against Houthi rebel sites in Yemen which Riyadh says comes in respond to a request by the country’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to intervene militarily to protect the Yemeni people.