Iran’s 4-Point Plan Only Viable Option to Solve Yemen Crisis: Zarif

In April 2015, the Iranian foreign minister submitted a four-point peace plan for Yemen to the United Nations in an attempt to end the bloodshed in the Arab country.

The peace plan highlighted the need for an immediate ceasefire, dispatch of humanitarian assistance, establishment of intra-Yemeni dialogue, formation of broad-based government, according to Zarif.

“I said this on the crisis in Yemen in April 2015. Today, after untold human suffering & war crimes by the Saudi coalition & its US accomplices, & efforts to whitewash their crimes with absurd allegations against Iran, our four-point plan still remains the only viable option,” the Iranian top diplomat said in a Friday tweet.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.

The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

During a press briefing in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on Thursday, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock appealed for a halt to fighting in Yemen.

The UN official said the fighting has once again highlighted the ongoing humanitarian tragedy in the war-ravaged Arab country and said, “I’d like to see a cessation of hostilities, especially around the key infrastructure, especially around Hudaydah.”