US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on December 14 presented what she said was wreckage of an Iran-made missile, as well as other weapons used by Houthi forces in Yemen to attack Saudi Arabia.

Haley spoke at a press event in a warehouse at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates supplied the wreckage to the United States, Reuters reported, and Haley said the evidence had been declassified “so that the world could better be informed of the extent of Iran’s malign activities.”

Houthi forces in Yemen claimed to have launched missiles into Saudi Arabia at least twice in November. Shortly after a November 7 missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s main airport in Riyadh, Haley said the weapon was an Iranian-made Qiam-1 short-range ballistic missile, and at Thursday’s press conference, she appeared in front of what she said was wreckage from that attack.

UN sanctions prohibit Iran from exporting weapons and separately prohibit the sale of weapons to Houthi forces in Yemen, Reuters said. Haley did not specify when Iran might have transferred these weapons to Houthi forces.

Though Haley said the evidence of Iranian involvement was “irrefutable,” reports and analyses of similar attacks have indicated some confusion about the origin of this type of missile. Iran’s Qiam-1, a finless rocket guided by propulsion valves on the sides, clearly resembles the recovered structure Haley stood in front of on Thursday. However, some reports suggest the missile was a Yemeni-made Volcano, based on the Qiam-1, with a warhead imported from Iran. Such an import would also violate UN sanctions.

The origin design for both missiles is the Iraqi Scud, itself a modified version of a Russian weapon. Credit: US Defense Department via Storyful