UNITED NATIONS: Cruise missiles and drones used in attacks last year on Saudi Arabia were “of Iranian origin,” including components that had been made in Iran or exported there, according to a report by the UN Secretary General.

The document, which covers the implementation of the 2015 UN nuclear accord with Iran and was seen by this news agency on Friday, offers a detailed examination of debris from the missiles and drones used in the attacks.

The strikes targeted a Saudi oil facility in Afif in May, the international airport at Abha in June and August and state oil giant Aramco’s processing facilities in Khurais and Abqaiq in September.

“The Secretariat assesses that the cruise missiles and/or parts thereof used in the four attacks are of Iranian origin,” the report by UN chief Antonio Guterres said.

The document, submitted on Thursday to the Security Council, added that the drones used in the May and September attacks were entirely or partially from Iran.

The devastating multi-pronged strikes against Aramco caused extensive damage and briefly interrupted production of half of the country’s oil output.

France, Germany and Britain joined the United States in September last year in accusing Iran of carrying out the attacks.

Iran formally denied any involvement and Guterres cites several exchanges with Tehran rejecting the charges.

The report draws on weapons seized by the United States off the coast of Yemen in November 2019 and February of this year which were likely destined for the country’s Houthi rebels.

Those weapons, or parts of them, were “of Iranian origin,” such as anti-tank missiles, or had been “delivered to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” such as optical weapons sights, the report said.

Items may have been transferred “in a manner inconsistent with resolution 2231” of 2015, the secretary general said, noting that some of the seized weapons were identical or similar to parts recovered from the 2019 missile and drone attacks.

In a letter addressed to Guterres from Iran’s UN delegation and dated May 22, Tehran said it had not been Iran’s policy to export weapons “in violation of relevant arms embargoes of the Security Council.” But the letter also insisted that the 2015 resolution “does not prohibit the transfer of arms from Iran.”Iran on Friday rejected a United Nations report that said cruise missiles used in attacks on oil facilities and an airport in Saudi Arabia last year were of “Iranian origin”, saying it had been drawn up under US and Saudi influence.Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media that “Iran denies allegations by the UN Secretariat that appear to have been made under political pressure from the US and Saudi regimes”.

“Interestingly, the ... report comes at a time when the United States is working to draft a dangerous resolution to extend an arms embargo against Iran,” the statement said.

Iran on Wednesday called on Russia and China to resist a push by Washington to extend a UN-imposed arms embargo that is due to expire in October under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers.

US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the deal in 2018 and his administration has been taking a harder line with the United Nations to extend and strengthen the embargo on Iran, saying lifting it would let Tehran acquire weapons that could fuel conflicts in the Middle East.

Guterres said that in a May 22 letter, Iran’s UN envoy said “it has not been the policy of Iran to export weapons in violation of relevant arms embargoes of the Security Council” and that it will “continue to actively cooperate with the United Nations in this regard”.

US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft has said she will circulate a draft resolution to extend the arms embargo on Iran soon. If Washington is unsuccessful, it has threatened to trigger a return of all UN sanctions on Iran under the nuclear deal, even though it quit the accord. Diplomats say Washington would likely face a tough, messy battle.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2020