UN Special Envoy Discusses Yemen Crisis in Tehran


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths held a meeting with Iranian diplomats in Tehran for talks about the Yemen crisis and ways to settle the conflict.

In the meeting on Sunday, delegations led by the visiting UN envoy and a senior assistant to the Iranian foreign minister discussed the issues surrounding the crisis in Yemen, and weighed plans to achieve peace in the war-hit country.

The Iranian assistant, Ali Asghar Khaji, called for further intervention by the UN and the international community to stop the war and lift the inhumane blockade on Yemen.

He also expressed Iran's readiness to offer humanitarian and medical aid to the Yemeni nation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, according to the government’s website.

The UN envoy, for his part, highlighted Iran's major role in helping establish peace in Yemen and the region, and elaborated on the UN's measures to ensure a ceasefire, have the economic siege lifted, and resume political dialogue in Yemen.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, and resulted in what the UN has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Some 3.3 million people have been displaced from their homes and 24 million, or more than 80 percent of the population, are in need of aid, according to the UN.