UN to vote on resolution condemning Iran over Yemen missiles

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on Monday on a British-drafted resolution that would condemn Iran for violating the arms embargo on Yemen and call for measures to address the violation.

The proposed resolution drafted is in response to a report by a UN panel of experts which found that missiles fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels at Saudi Arabia last year were made in Iran.

Kuwait's UN Ambassador Mansour al-Otaiba, the current council president, told reporters on Saturday: "We are still working on the text, but the intention is to adopt it Monday morning."

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said this week he opposed the draft, saying it should be about renewing the work of experts monitoring sanctions against Yemen, not condemning Iran.

Russia has the power to block sanctions by resorting to its veto as one of the five permanent Security Council members, along with Britain, China, France and the United States.

UN experts travelled to Saudi Arabia last year to inspect the remnants of missiles fired by the Houthis in May, July, November and December.

The experts said in a January report that they had identified Iranian missile remnants and other equipment introduced into Yemen after the 2015 arms embargo that were fired into Saudi Arabia.

The draft resolution backed by the United States and France specifies that "these violations ... require a further response from the council; and further decides to take additional measures to address these violations."

Iran has strongly denied arming the Houthis and last month accused US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley of presenting "fabricated" evidence that a November 4 missile fired at Riyadh airport was Iranian-made.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in Yemen to fight Houthi rebels in March 2015.

The UN has condemned the coalition showing a "complete disregard for human life" in its areal campaign against the rebels.

The UN has labelled Yemen the world's worst humanitarian disaster, tallying more than 9,200 fatalities since the coalition intervened.

The US and Britain have provided Saudi Arabia with billions of dollars worth of arms to use in its war in Yemen.