Iran urges int’l action to avert humanitarian crisis in Yemen

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham has called on the international community to take action to ward off a humanitarian crisis in war-hit Yemen.

“We expect the international community to pay specific attention to the Yemeni people to avert a humanitarian crisis in Yemen,” Afkham told reporters at her weekly press conference on Wednesday as Saudi Arabia is continuing its brutal airstrikes against Yemen despite the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Arab country.

Stressing that Iran condemned the Saudi airstrikes against Yemen at the very beginning of the military aggression, Afkham also called on the global community to help stop killing the Yemeni people.

The Iranian official also lashed out at Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen, saying the siege has imposed “severe restrictions” on people’s access to basic needs, including power, water, foodstuff and medicine.

Afkham said that Iran is in talks with international bodies as well as other countries to end the blockade on Yemen for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the impoverished 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.

Saudi Arabia has also been blocking aid to Yemen.

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

On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the medical charity group, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), expressed “extreme” concern over the Saudi airstrikes on Yemen’s lifelines and its obstruction of aid deliveries to the impoverished nation.

The UN has also called for “safe and reliable” access to Yemen’s Sana’a International Airport for the delivery of aid.