Excerpts: Iran Arming Houthis With Missiles. Obama Extends National Emergency on Iran

Excerpts: Iran arming Houthis with missiles. Obama extends national
emergency on Iran November 05, 2016

+++SOURCE:Al Arabiya News 5 Nov.’16:”Iran admits to arming Houthis with
missiles”,by Staff Writer

SUBJECT: Iran arming Houthis with missiles

FULL TEXT: Fars news agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards, said Friday[4 Nov] that Houthi missile units pounded the Yemeni
forces’ military positions in the capital city of Sanaa on Friday[4 Nov]
with the ballistic “Zalzal-2” missile.

It added that forces’ gathering in the center of the Malah region of Sanaa
came under attack by the ballistic Zalzal-2 missile, according to the news
agency’s army source.

“It was a precision missile strike and [it] hit the target,” the source said
without expanding on the damage and toll inflicted.

The agency quoted “a prominent analyst” Seyed Sadeq al-Sharafi as saying
that militias “are developing their missile power to target Riyadh and Dubai
in the future, after they increased their missile and military capabilities
and expanded the range of their military operations against the enemies.”

The Zelzal-2 is an Iranian developed long-range unguided rocket in use by
the Iranian military, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Previously, Iran’s foreign minister repeatedly rejected the reports
confirming that his country supplied the Shiite militias in Yemen with
missiles.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
as saying these are “baseless accusations.”

The latest news comes a few weeks after news that warships from the US Navy
and allied nations intercepted four weapons shipments from Iran to
war-ravaged Yemen since April 2015, according to a US admiral.

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 5 Nov.’16:”Obama extends national emergency on
Iran”,by Saff Writer

SUBJECT: Obama extends national emergency on Iran

QUOTE: ”Despite Obama pushing for diplomacy with Iran, he extended national
emergency against Iran which was originally implemented since 1979”

FULL TEXT: In a letter to Congress on Thursday[3 Nov], US President Barack
Obama extended Washington’s national emergency with respect to Iran, which
was originally placed on Tehran in light of the hostage crisis in November
1979.

“Our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal, and the process of
implementing the agreements with Iran, dated Jan. 19, 1981, is still under
way,” Obama wrote in the letter.

He added: “For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to
continue the national emergency … with respect to Iran.

“The national emergency with respect to Iran that was declared in Executive
Order 12170 of November 14, 1979, is to continue.”

Obama’s administration pushed for diplomacy to end any possible threats to
the US and its allies emanating from Iran’s development of its nuclear
capabilities.

The US leader was behind the historic Iran nuclear deal with P5+1 powers,
agreed upon last year, which saw Tehran agree to amend its nuclear output in
order to lift all nuclear-related economic sanctions, freeing up tens of
billions of dollars in oil revenue and frozen assets.

During the Iran hostage crisis, 52 American diplomats and citizens were held
hostage for a total of 444 days after a group of Iranian students stormed
the US Embassy in Tehran after the Iranian Revolution overthrew the shah.
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Sue Lerner – Associate, IMRA