Tehran dismisses UK claim of seizing Iranian weaponry shipment
Yemen says seizure claim senseless
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman refuted the allegations made by the British navy that a boat smuggling Iranian weapons has been seized off the coast of the Sea of Oman in a joint operation with the United States.
Rejecting the false claim in a statement on Friday, Nasser Kanaani said those countries that have supplied weapons worth billions of dollars to an invading coalition and have caused the death of people and destruction of Yemen, cannot acquit themselves of this wrongdoing by leveling accusations against others, Tasnim News Agency reported.
The spokesman said those countries that have been the main culprits behind warmongering throughout history and are the biggest arms suppliers to crisis-hit regions of the world are now trying to mislead the global public opinion through making false allegations and spreading lies.
Kanaani noted that such governments had better end their opportunistic and profiteering policies toward the oppressive war in Yamen instead of giving misleading information and dodging their responsibility for the imposed war against the defenseless and oppressed Yemeni people.
Britain’s Royal Navy claimed on Thursday that an Iranian boat, traveling south from Iran at high speed during the hours of darkness, was intercepted by forces from British frigate HMS Lancaster before it could navigate back to Iranian territorial waters on February 23.
According to the Bahrain-based United States Fifth Fleet, the seizure took place along a route historically used to smuggle weapons to Yemen.
Iran has on several occasions dismissed Western claims of smuggling arms to Yemen, reaffirming its support for a political solution not a military one to the conflict in the Arab country.
‘Nonsensical claims’
In separate remarks, Yemen’s Deputy Information Minister Fahmi al-Yousefi also dismissed as “nonsense” claims by the British navy and a member of the ousted pro-Saudi government about the seizure of the boat smuggling Iranian weapons.
Yousefi made the comment in an exclusive interview with Radio Sputnik on Friday, saying the claims, initially made by the British navy and later echoed by Muammar al-Iryani, Yemeni information minister in the former government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, reflect the unwillingness of the other side to engage in dialogue and implement what has so far been agreed upon.