Iran Says Has Given No Commitments Regarding Yemen

Bahram Qassemi made the comment in response to a question about recent remarks by UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who said he had held talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, and that Iran had given commitments with regards to Yemen.

“The Yemen crisis and the three-year aggression on this country and the killing of its innocent people and the emergence of a human disaster in this country have always been on the agenda of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s diplomatic talks with other countries,” said Qassemi.

“Accordingly, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mr Zarif has had numerous meetings and diplomatic contacts with his foreign counterparts in order to work out a solution or solutions to ease the crisis in Yemen and prepare the ground for a halt to the aggression and the establishment of a permanent ceasefire and adopting the necessary measures to dispatch relief and send humanitarian aid to famine-stricken Yemeni people and set the stage for political climate and political negotiations.”

“So, this issue has always been on the agenda,” said Qassemi.

“In this connection, several rounds of talks have been held over the past year between Iran and a number of European countries (France, Germany, Britain and Italy) which were interested in the issue of Yemen,” he said.

“Finally, with the help of the Islamic Republic of Iran and by following up on the issue, the arrangements were made for the Stockholm meeting and holding talks between Yemeni groups under the supervision of the UN,” said the spokesman.

He said Iran, as a Muslim country which was sensitive about the fate of Yemeni people, has had this concern from the outset.

“We always suggested that this war cannot have a military winner at the end of the day, and that a ceasefire should be established before the ground is prepared to offer humanitarian aid and finally contribute to intra-Yemeni talks,” Qassemi underlined.

“Naturally, and as Mr Jeremy Hunt said, some negotiations were held about Yemen during his recent trip to Tehran, and what the UK foreign secretary says about his meeting with Mr Zarif about Yemen refers to his negotiations during this very trip,” Qassemi said.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed that Iran has offered no commitments, whatsoever, to any party or any country concerning Yemen.

“Yemen is an independent country and it is up to Yemenis to make decisions about it,” he said.

“Iran has no involvement in Yemen’s domestic affairs, and the commitments that Mr Hunt talked about are the same commitments offered by Yemeni groups during the Stockholm meeting in order to establish a ceasefire, etc.” he noted.

Qassemi reiterated that Iran will spare no effort to help settle the Yemen crisis peacefully and prevent the continuation of the humanitarian disaster in the country.

“It is time for the international community to feel responsible and try to work out a solution to this disaster, which is a dark point among its contemporary issues, and save Yemeni people from this very difficult and disastrous situation,” said Qassemi.

“Some European countries, too, should seriously stop sending and selling and offering destructive arms to the countries which have launched the aggression [against Yemen].”

“Moreover, it is necessary that the international community, too, make the aggressors halt their barbaric aggression against the Yemeni nation,” he said.