DUBAI, September 5. /TASS/. Moammar Al-Eryani, Minister of Information for Yemen’s internationally recognized government, said the Shiite Ansar Allah movement, which controls part of Yemen, is allegedly making chemical weapons using components smuggled in from Iran.
"The Houthi terrorist militia has established a factory for producing chemical weapons, under the direct supervision and management of Iranian experts," he told The National. "The Tehran regime recently smuggled toxic gases and materials used in their manufacture, in batches, into areas under its control," he added.
The Iranian-backed Ansar Allah movement uses long-range ballistic missiles and drones to strike Israeli territory, as well as attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Reports by UN Security Council experts indicate attempts to smuggle weapons from Iran to Yemen by sea. The Houthis insist that their arsenal consists of weapons manufactured domestically. Iran also rejects accusations of military support for Yemeni militants.
The allegations made by Al-Eryani marked the first such accusation against the Houthis. According to the minister, the Yemeni government’s assessment is based on intelligence information obtained from several "confirmed sources," indicating that "the militia has already begun preparing those deadly materials and mounting them on ballistic missiles and drones."
The minister called the Houthis' alleged actions "an extremely dangerous escalation" and "a flagrant violation of international law, the Chemical Weapons Convention." In this regard, the representative called on the UN Security Council to take "urgent and effective action." "It is clear that the Iranian project goes further, turning Yemeni territory into secret laboratories for producing and testing toxic, chemical, and biological agents," he added.
According to the article, Yemeni militants, who control part of the territory of one of the world’s poorest countries, would require specialized equipment and industrial components to produce chemical weapons. The chemicals needed for developing weapons of mass destruction are often dual-use, with legitimate applications in agriculture and industry.