Iran Deputy FM: Iran to Send Medical Aids to Yemen Immediately

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian stressed that sending medical aids and transferring those injured in the Saudi-led strikes against Yemen set a priority for Tehran.
“Immediate dispatch of drugs to those in need and urgent transfer of the wounded is Iran’s priority for the time being,” Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday.

He described the Saudi and US atrocities against the Yemeni people as a dark point in the two countries’ approach towards the region, and said Iran is monitoring the political process, and emphasizes that only those who have not killed the Yemeni people and have not been a complicit in the massacre of the innocent people should take part in the national talks and the political process.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian
In relevant remarks on Tuesday, Amir Abdollahian said that Tehran’s general policy on such countries as Syria, Iraq and Yemen is preservation of their territorial integrity, and restoration of peace and stability through diplomatic ways and national dialogue.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that successful implementation of democracy in the crisis-hit countries of the region is the best way to ensure sustainable peace and stability,” added Amir Abdollahian.

Iranian officials, on many occasions, have stressed that fueling sectarian disputes in the Muslim countries will only serve the interests of hegemonic powers and the Zionist regime of Israel, thereupon, Tehran has done its best to pave the ground for peaceful settlement of disputes in the Middle-Eastern states, specially in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Iran has heightened efforts to broker talks among different Yemeni groups to establish peace in the country, and it sent a 4-step Yemen peace initiative to the UN chief last week.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, and demanded adoption of the necessary moves by the world body to put an immediate end to the bloodshed, describing the conditions on the ground in Yemen as “alarming”.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that all efforts, particularly those by the United Nations, should be guided, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, by the following objectives: 1. Ceasefire and an immediate end to all foreign military attacks; 2. Unimpeded urgent humanitarian and medical assistance to the people of Yemen; 3. Resumption of Yemeni-lead and Yemeni-owned national dialogue, with the participation of the representatives of all political parties and social groups; 4. Establishment of an inclusive national unity government,” Zarif said in his letter.

Saudi Arabia launched its airstrikes on March 26 and has kept them in place for 29 days in a move to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has claimed the lives of around 2,900 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children. The attacks have also left thousands of people injured.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it was bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes were flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

Five Persian Gulf States — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait — and Egypt that are also assisted by Israel and backed by the US declared war on Yemen in a joint statement issued on March 26.

Riyadh officials said the Saudi-led coalition operations in Yemen are now entering a political phase, but the latest reports from different Yemeni cities say that the Saudi airstrikes are still underway.

Also, witnesses said warships of the Saudi-coalition forces are firing rockets and missiles at several areas in the Yemeni city of Aden despite Riyadh’s last night declaration that military operation against Yemen has stopped.

Eye-witnesses said they have seen American warships firing at Aden, but an army officer deployed in the city said the vessels are “Egyptian navy”.