TEHRAN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran's ambassador to the United Nations (UN) has rejected recent accusations by the United States and Britain that Tehran was "providing arms" to the Yemen-based Houthis, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.

Amir Saeid Iravani made the remarks in a letter on Monday to the president of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for March, Yamazaki Kazuyuki, in response to the accusations leveled against Iran by the U.S. and British representatives at the UNSC briefing on Yemen in New York last week.

He said the U.S. and Britain had, once again, "abused the UNSC as a platform to make baseless claims against Iran regarding the situation in the Red Sea and Yemen."

Iravani said, "While rejecting the baseless accusations, Iran considers them to be a pretext used by Washington and London to advance their short-sighted political plan and justify and validate their illegal and aggressive actions against Yemen."

The Iranian envoy also dismissed France's similar "unjustified and unsubstantiated" allegations against Iran, which were made in a statement by its representative at the same meeting.

Iravani said Iran condemned "the constant military aggressions and illegal use of force against Yemen by the so-called coalition led by the United States," stressing that the "aggressions" had flagrantly violated Yemen's sovereignty and territorial integrity, international law, the UN Charter and the relevant UNSC resolutions, and were a serious threat to the regional peace and stability.

He added Iran was still committed to the UNSC resolutions 2140 and 2216 aiming to ensure peace, security and stability in Yemen and had never taken any action, including through selling or transferring arms or weaponry system to the Arab state, in violation of the resolutions.

Iravani said Iran has always supported the peaceful resolution of Yemen's crisis through diplomatic channels and underlined its commitment to maritime security and freedom of navigation.

In his remarks at the UNSC briefing on Thursday, U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Robert Wood said, "Of course, it is no secret that Iran provides weapons to the Houthis in violation of the UN arms embargo. And so, we repeat our call for Iran to stop the weapons transfers and other activities that help facilitate Houthi attacks in the Red Sea."

Leveling similar accusations, British Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN James Kariuki said, "Britain calls on Iran to cease its unlawful support for the Houthis."

Since last November, the Houthis have initiated attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, citing retaliation for Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip as their motives.

In response, the United States and Britain have conducted air and missile strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen since mid-January. However, instead of deterring the Houthi group or weakening its capabilities, these strikes appear to have led to further escalation of attacks by the Houthi forces. Enditem

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