On Dec. 14, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, gave a speech from a US military base in Washington standing in front of what she claimed was an Iranian missile delivered to Houthi rebels in Yemen. Haley claimed that the delivery of such weapons violated a 2015 United Nations Security Council resolution, vowing stronger action against Tehran. While most experts were skeptical of Haley’s claims, Iran was dismissive and answered back about US actions in Yemen.
Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign policy adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, joked at a Dec. 17 press conference, “I don’t know if this lady who is America’s representative at the UN is an international specialist or missile specialist.” He continued, “She showed something and said the Iranians had done it. This is just a claim and it shows that this individual does not have the minimum scientific information.”
