Official Reiterates Iran’s Support for Political Dialog among Yemenis
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A special adviser to Iran’s parliament speaker Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Iran recognizes political dialog among Yemeni parties as an effective way to resolve crisis in the Arab country.
In a meeting with Wolfgang Amadeus Bruelhart, Assistant State Secretary for Middle East and North Africa Division at the Swiss Federal Department for Foreign Affairs in Tehran on Tuesday, Abdollahian said “political talks, pursuing peaceful methods and respecting Yemeni people’s decision” can resolve the crisis in Yemen.
He pointed to the growing presence of different terrorist groups south of Yemen and said the issue has become a source of concern and a threat to the security of the international waters.
Abdollahian, also former deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs, then described Saudi Arabia’s behavior in the region as “non-constructive”, and asked Riyadh to impose tangible changes in its regional policies.
Elsewhere, he dismissed allegations about Iran effort to transfer arms to Yemen, saying, “The claim about alleged transferring of arms to Yemen is totally baseless.”
In an address to the 34th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council on February 28, Anwar Mohamad Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs of the United Arab Emirates, hadaccused Iran of “directly arming and supporting the insurgents (in Yemen) with increasingly sophisticated weapons, including ballistic missiles and armed drones.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies, including the Abu Dhabi government, have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
Nearly 11,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.
