Iran urges UN humanitarian relief efforts in Yemen

Iran’s Foreign Ministry called on the United Nations secretary-general’s new special envoy for Yemen to take immediate action to deliver humanitarian aid to people of the Arab country, affected by more than a month of Saudi-led military strikes.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham on Tuesday expressed hope that Mr. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed would take “effective and constructive steps” for putting an end to the military campaign against Yemen and initiating dialogue among the Yemeni groups and parties.

She also slammed military action on Yemen as a “big mistake.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply believes that the crisis in Yemen should be resolved politically and based on dialogue among Yemenis in order to establish an inclusive government,” Afkham added.

On April 25, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania as his Special Envoy for Yemen after Jamal Benomar of Britain stepped down from the role.

While Yemen has been gripped by political conflicts and Saudi-led military attacks on the impoverished country have also aggravated the situation, Iran has proposed a four-point plan, which entails Yemeni-Yemeni talks to end the crisis.

On March 26, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies began to launch deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led coalition announced on April 21 that its military operation “Decisive Storm” has ended, but hours later, airstrikes and ground fighting resumed.

According to the spokesman of the Yemeni Army, the Saudi-led war on the Arab country has killed more than 2,000 people, most of them civilians.