UN: Iran may sent ballistic missiles to Yemen Houthi‏

The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has warned that Iran may be defying a call to halt ballistic missile development even as it complies with the nuclear deal, The Guardian reported.

Guterres said in a report to the security council that the United Nations was investigating Iran’s possible transfer of ballistic missiles to Houthi Shia rebels in Yemen that may have been used in launches aimed at Saudi Arabia in July and November.

The report on implementation of a UN resolution that endorsed the July 2015 nuclear agreement was obtained on Wednesday by the Associated Press. The US mission to the United Nations said its ambassador, Nikki Haley, would hold a news conference on Thursday in Washington to highlight its findings, as well as Iran’s “destabilising activities in the Middle East region and elsewhere in the world”.

In the report, Guterres stressed that the nuclear deal remained “the best way” to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme.

He said President Donald Trump’s decision in October not to certify the agreement under US law created “considerable uncertainty” about its future. But he added: “I am reassured that the United States has expressed its commitment to stay in the joint comprehensive plan of action for now.”

Guterres said the UN was studying debris from missiles fired at Yanbu in Saudi Arabia on 22 July and at the capital of Riyadh on 4 November.