WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (INP): The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley presented what she called “undeniable” evidence that a ballistic missile fired by Huthi rebels in Yemen at Saudi Arabia last month was Iranian-made, a charge Tehran immediately denied. Haley accused Tehran of a “blatant violation” of UN Security Council obligations designed to rein in its missile activity, further stepping up the rhetoric towards Iran which Washington accuses of going against the spirit of a historic nuclear accord. Standing in a warehouse at a Washington military base in front of recovered pieces of two missiles, Haley said Iranian fingerprints were all over the weapons, one of which she said was fired at Riyadh’s airport on November 4. “It was made in Iran then sent to Huthi militants in Yemen,” Haley said. “From there it was fired at a civilian airport with the potential to kill hundreds of innocent civilians in Saudi Arabia.” She charged that the 2015 nuclear deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme had “done nothing to moderate the regime’s conduct in other areas,” and accused Tehran of “fanning the flames” of regional conflict. Alireza Miryousefi, spokesman at Iran’s mission to the United Nations, said Tehran “categorically” rejects the US claims. “This purportedly evidence, put on public display, is as much fabricated as the one presented on some other occasions earlier,” he said. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted on Twitter a photo of Haley juxtaposed with a well-known image of former secretary of state Colin Powell appearing before the Security Council, where he provided intelligence in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war that was later found to be false. “When I was based at the UN, I saw this show and what it begat…,” Zarif wrote. The Iranian mission said the accusations levelled by Haley were intended to divert attention from the devastating war in Yemen being led by Saudi Arabia, a key US ally. A confidential report to the council says UN officials had examined debris from missiles fired at Saudi Arabia which pointed to a “common origin” but there was no firm conclusion as to whether they came from an Iranian supplier. A separate team of UN experts who inspected the missile fragments during a visit to Riyadh last month found a possible link to an Iranian manufacturer, the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, which is on the UN sanctions blacklist. A Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen imposed a blockade of Yemen’s air and sea ports and borders after the missile was fired at Riyadh, citing concerns that weapons were being smuggled into Yemen. INP/AJ/AK