Riyadh playing blame game on Iran: Afkham

During a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir accused Iran of meddling in regional countries, including Yemen.

“These remarks are a blame game, based on a string of repetitious and useless analyses,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Friday.

Afkham said that Saudi Arabia’s accusations against Iran come while Yemen has been under constant Saudi air attacks for more than 40 days, and “has been held to ransom through a full blockade from air, land and sea.”

The Iranian official noted that the Yemeni people would not allow any countries to interfere in their affairs, stressing that the Islamic Republic seeks only “an end to Yemen’s siege as well as immediate delivery of humanitarian aid” to the war-stricken people to avert a crisis.

 

 

Afkham underlined the need for an end to Saudi airstrikes as well as the resumption of intra-Yemeni talks aimed at forming an inclusive government as the key to the settlement of the crisis in the Arab country.

Riyadh launched its military aggression against neighboring Yemen on March 26 – without a United Nations mandate – in a bid to undermine the Arab country’s popular committees back by the Ansarullah movement and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Saudis.

Last month, Saudi Arabia prevented two Iranian civilian planes from delivering medical aid and foodstuff to the Yemeni people.

On Thursday, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen voiced grave concern over the deteriorating situation in Yemen and said “attacks on hospitals and other civilian infrastructure must stop immediately.”