THE United States accused Iran on Monday (July 13) of using flights to Houthi-controlled Sanaa to move Revolutionary Guards personnel and military expertise into Yemen, telling the U.N. Security Council that Washington would respond with force if Iran fired on ships.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Tammy Bruce said a July 3 flight from Tehran carried IRGC personnel, including drone and missile experts, "under the guise" of transporting Houthi officials to a funeral.
She said a second Iranian flight entered Yemen on Monday despite instructions from Yemen's internationally recognized government not to do so.
Bruce said the flights violated Security Council resolution 2216, which imposed an arms embargo on the Houthis, and accused Iran of supporting Houthi attacks on maritime shipping.
"If Iran shoots at ships, we will immediately respond with force," Bruce told the Council.
Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said the July 3 Mahan Air flight should have been agreed with Yemen's authorities but described it as "strictly humanitarian" and urged restraint.
Yemen's U.N. Ambassador Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi said the flight violated Yemeni sovereignty and was not purely civilian, and said the "flight carried personnel, know-how, and military and dual-use equipment."
