Arab League May Refer to UNSC to Counter Iran's Alleged Meddling

CAIRO (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, an emergency meeting of the Arab League foreign ministers, initiated by Saudi Arabia, was held in Cairo to discuss Iran's policy in the region.

"I am not ruling [out] referring to the UN Security Council as the next step to confront Iran's interference," regional organization's Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told a press conference after the meeting.

In November, the Saudi government said it destroyed a missile launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen before it landed at the airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. Saudi Arabia blamed the incident on Iran, which allegedly supports the Houthi movement. Riyadh called Tehran's alleged involvement in supplying Houthis with missiles "an act of war against the kingdom" and, relying on the right to self-defense, reserved the right to respond to Iran. 

While Tehran has made no secret of its political support for the Shiite movement, it has repeatedly denied rumors of arming the Yemeni rebels, with Iranian President Rouhani stating that the Houthis' missile launch at Saudi Arabia's capital was a "reaction to aggression," adding that Riyadh's belief in the Islamic Republic being its "enemy" is a "strategic mistake."    

Yemen has been engulfed in a violent conflict between the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Shiite Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, backed by army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, since 2015.

The Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government forces began carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request in March 2015. Saudi Arabia has claimed on numerous occasions that Iran has been supplying weapons to the Yemeni rebels, violating UN Security Council resolutions.