US accuses Iran of threatening maritime security at UN
US envoy Jennifer Locetta urged the Security Council to hold Tehran accountable and accused the Houthis of escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The United States accused Iran on Friday of endangering international shipping through attacks on merchant vessels and support for armed groups, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on worsening security in the Gulf, US envoy to the UN Jennifer Locetta urged the council to hold Tehran accountable.
The session covered threats to navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab al-Mandab strait and the Red Sea.
Locetta said Tehran has attacked neighboring countries, fired on commercial ships, backed armed groups and ignored Security Council decisions.
She also accused Tehran of deliberately weakening freedom of navigation.
"Iran ignores this Council," Locetta said.
Locetta further charged Yemen's Houthi group with stepping up attacks on Saudi Arabia, including strikes on commercial vessels, airports and energy facilities using missiles and drones.
The United States stands with its Gulf partners against Iranian efforts to undermine regional stability, she told the council.
Locetta urged Security Council members, including those she said had shielded Iran and the Houthis, to back regional peace and protect commercial shipping.
Shipping lanes in the Gulf and Red Sea carry large volumes of oil and goods, and attacks on vessels in these waters have drawn repeated international concern.
