President Donald Trump hosted United Nations Security Council ambassadors for lunch at the White House, took them to see remnants of rockets identified as originating in Iran, and urged them to fight “Iran’s destabilization activities” in the region, The New York Times reported Monday.
During his time with the ambassadors, Trump brought them to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling to show them the parts of missiles that had been fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen, and urged them to oppose “Iran’s destabilization activities in the Middle East” at a White House lunch. The ambassadors were also taken to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to see an exhibit on the atrocities being committed in Syria, where Iran backs the government of Bashar al-Assad.
During Washington visit of Security Council we also visited the Holocaust museum, honouring victims of the Holocaust and seeing impressive exhibition on #Syria mass atrocities . Pleaded for accountability. pic.twitter.com/aNWymQRprd
— Karel van Oosterom (@KvanOosterom) January 29, 2018
A UN report earlier this month found that Iran had supplied ballistic missiles to Houthi rebels in Yemen. This would be a violation of Resolution 2231, which prohibits Iran from transferring weapons — both conventional weapons and ballistic missiles — to other countries.
“We wanted to bring the Security Council members to see the material so they could decide for themselves,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said about the display of rocket parts. “We believe what the Council saw today makes it clear that the evidence continues to grow that Iran is blatantly ignoring its international obligations.”
In December, she had briefed the media on the missile parts recovered from the Middle East and said that they showed that Iran is the arsonist in the Middle East.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took to Twitter to mock the Trump administration’s efforts. He claimed that the Iranian standards institute whose imprint was seen on some of the rocket parts would only be used for consumer goods.
ICYMI: I re-posted my last night's Tweet that was accidentally deleted.#ISIRI seal is a measure of quality for Iranian consumer goods. But sadly for Trump & Co, we don't put it on missile parts. Time for some to do a better job of fabricating.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 30, 2018
Saeed Ghasseminejad, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who specializes in Iran, noted that missiles have dual-use components that originate in the commercial sector and would receive certification from the standards institute, undermining Zarif’s contention.
A missile has different parts, many parts are dual-use, not only it is normal for those parts to have a standard certification logo, it is actually necessary. The mullahs should find more talented PR agents and spin doctors. https://t.co/qtkOhhKlxX
— Saeed Ghasseminejad (@SGhasseminejad) January 29, 2018
[Photo: USUN / Instagram ]