Obama Says U.S. Has Warned Iran Not To Send Weapons To Yemen

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

By Roberta Rampton and David Alexander

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the U.S. government had sent "very direct messages" to Iran warning it not to send weapons to Yemen that could be used to threaten shipping traffic in the region.

The Pentagon said on Tuesday the presence of a large convoy of Iranian cargo ships in the Arabian Sea was one factor in the U.S. decision to deploy additional warships in the waters off war-torn Yemen.

But Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, dismissed reports the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and cruiser USS Normandy had been sent to the region to intercept Iranian ships carrying arms to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fighting forces loyal to the U.S.-backed Yemeni president.

In a televised interview on Tuesday on MSNBC's "Hardball," Obama said Washington had been "very straightforward" with Tehran about the issue.

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/04/22/yemen-security-usa-navy-idINL1N0XI2SY20150422

[Scootaloo]

1. While we're on the subject, how did Saudi Arabia get all those F-15's they're using to kill Yemenis?

[harun]

2. I don't think they will be talking about that on the news anytime soon

[Scootaloo]

3. Golly! n/t

[NuclearDem]

9. If Saudi Arabia were under a Security Council arms embargo

then what would be relevant. Iran can't sell weapons to the Houthis because international law says they can't.

[Scootaloo]

10. International law also says that you cannot engage in wars of aggression

Strange, the selective application of international law.

[NuclearDem]

12. I didn't say the US wasn't selective in its application of international law

But in the case of telling Iran to stop selling arms to the rebels, they are upholding international law.

[bemildred]

13. How about Saudi Arabia attacking Yemen, does international law cover that too? nt

[NuclearDem]

15. I'm not sure what international law has to say about goalpost moving.

[marmar]

4. Only we get to send weapons to despotic regimes!

[bowens43]

5. We are such fucking hypocrites...... what right do we have to tell Iran not sell weapons?

[NuclearDem]

8. A UN Security Council resolution imposing an arms embargo on the Houthis.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/world/middleeast/yemen-houthis-saudi-airstrikes-arms-embargo.html?referrer=

So, international law.

[840high]

6. I'm sure they will listen.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

7. Great idea.

Just let ISIS march all over Yemen with the Saudis paving the way.

[Beauregard]

17. Member of the Saudi royal family are politically very close to ISIS.

Or maybe I should say "theologically." In that part of the world they are the same thing.

[Midnight Writer]

11. We need to get the hell out of the Middle East

We are not helping anyone. We make it worse with every Administration, whatever the intent.

Just take our toys and go home. There is nothing helpful we can do.

[harun]

16. BRIC, Brazil Russia India and China are smart enough not to get invovled this

deeply there. We are smart enough too, just that AIPAC overrides our wisdom.

[TheKentuckian]

14. The administration needs to shut their hypocritical mouths and stop barking orders.