Saudi-led coalition says it seized Iran boat with arms for Yemen rebels

The Saudi-led coalition said on Wednesday it had seized an Iranian fishing boat in the Sea of Oman loaded with weapons destined for Shiite rebels it is fighting in Yemen.

A coalition statement said that the vessel was intercepted on Saturday and that 14 Iranians and weapons including anti-tank shells were found on board.

It said that papers found on board the boat showed that it was registered to an Iranian and was licensed for fishing by the Iranian authorities.

It listed the weapons seized as 18 anti-armored Concourse shells, 54 anti-tank BGM17 shells, 15 shell battery kits, four firing guidance systems, five binocular batteries, three launchers, one launchers' holder and three batteries.

The vessel was seized 150 nautical miles off the Omani port of Salalah, the coalition statement said.

Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Tuesday accused Iran of destroying his country and thanked the Saudi-led coalition for acting with "utter determination" against the Huthi rebels.

Speaking at the United Nations, Hadi said that his country finds itself "mixed in this battle, this fight for the country and the legitimacy of the state to ensure that the country not fall into the hands of Iran, which would like to see the destruction of the country," adding that "you are aware of the human tragedy of our people, and this is due to the blockade imposed by the militias."

Saudi Arabia and its coalition allies have repeatedly accused their Shiite rival Iran of arming the Huthi rebels who control parts of Yemen including the capital.

But despite operating an air and sea blockade for the past six months, they have not previously come up with any evidence.

In April an Iranian naval convoy suspected of carrying weapons for Shiite rebels in Yemen turned back after the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and other American warships were deployed off Yemen's coast to track the Iranian flotilla and possibly prevent any arms deliveries to the rebels.

Another Iranian boat headed to the rebel-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeida with 2,500 tonnes of aid was diverted in May to Djibouti following warnings from the coalition and the United States.

According to new UN figures, 151 civilians were killed, including 26 children and 10 women, in the conflict between September 11 and 24.

A total of 2,355 civilians have been killed in the war since late March, and 4,862 have been wounded, Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said.

Wednesday's announcement comes with relations between Riyadh and Tehran at a new low amid a war of words over a deadly stampede at this year's hajj in which at least 239 Iranian pilgrims were killed.

Tehran accuses Riyadh of serious safety lapses and has questioned its fitness to continue organizing the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

-'Indiscriminate' shelling-

Human rights watchdogs have repeatedly criticized the coalition's aerial bombardment of Yemen, saying they have struck areas without any military targets.

They have also accused the rebels of war crimes for what they have called "indiscriminate" shelling of civilian-populated areas.

Several coalition air strikes have hit non-military facilities killings dozens of civilians in the past six months.

In late August, an air raid struck a bottled-water factory in the northern province of Hajja, killing 17 civilians and 14 rebels.

Warplanes in July attacked the residences of employees of a power plant in Mokha, killing 65 civilians, while a raid on a dairy plant in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida in April left 35 civilians dead.

In the border area, a Saudi fighter was killed in the kingdom's southwestern Jazan region by rocket fire from Yemen, the interior ministry in Riyadh said Tuesday.

At least 70 people, mostly soldiers, have been killed inside Saudi Arabia in cross-border fire and clashes since March.

Iran vehemently denies arming the rebels and has presented a peace plan to the UN calling for a ceasefire and the formation of a unity government.

Senior Iranian diplomat missing

A senior Iranian diplomat and former ambassador to Lebanon is missing after the deadly stampede at last week's hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, officials in Tehran said on Wednesday.

The news comes as tensions intensified when Shiite Muslim Iran threatened a "fierce" response to Sunni rival Saudi Arabia over delays in repatriating victims of the tragedy, in which at least 769 pilgrims died.

Ghazanfar Roknabadi, 49, who was attending the annual Muslim gathering, is among 241 Iranians Tehran says are still missing after the stampede, which killed at least 239 of the Islamic republic's citizens.

Until last year, Roknabadi was Tehran's envoy to Beirut, a highly sensitive post.

Lebanon is home to the Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is allied with President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war and is also a bitter enemy of Israel.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham denied reports by some Arab media that he had travelled to Saudi Arabia under a false name.

"He entered with a normal passport to perform the hajj" and "his identity and that of other missing pilgrims have been provided to Saudi Arabia", she said.

Iranian media published a photo of his passport with a Saudi visa.

On Tuesday, Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister and an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said "high-ranking" Iranians were among the missing and the dead.

He called on Riyadh to take the "necessary actions" regarding them.

(Staff with AFP)

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