Yemen demands Iran explains weapons

Yemen's Foreign Ministry has demanded that Iran provide an explanation regarding the vessel which was stopped in Yemeni waters and found to have been carrying a weapons cargo. The demand comes as tensions rise between the two countries with Sanaa repeatedly accusing Iran of meddling in its internal affairs. Yemen's state news agency Saba reported that Foreign Minister Abu Bark al-Qirbi met with the Iranian Ambassador in Sanaa Mahmoud Hassan Ali Zada to discuss the shipment of weapons seized by Yemeni authorities from a vessel named Jihan II which was stopped near the Arabian Sea coast of Yemen on December 23 2012. According to Sana, al-Qirbi told Zada that the Yemeni government "will not allow anyone to interfere in its internal affairs or for its territories to become a site of proxy wars." Yemeni authorities held a media conference on Saturday in which they declared that the weapons shipment was not intended for arms trafficking, but instead indicated that a state source was behind the affair, alluding to the Iranian government. Two days before, Sanaa had lodged a request with the United Nations' Iran Sanctions Committee asking it to launch an international investigation into the shipment.