Iranian FM Urges Acceleration of Humanitarian Efforts in Yemen

The foreign ministry statement voiced support for the UN-monitored national talks among the Yemeni factions and groups in Sweden, adding that the crisis in Yemen can only be resolved through political solutions.

It also called on the international community to pressure arms exporters to stop sales of weapons to the countries which have launched the war against Yemen to allow the Yemeni people to decide their fate without foreign interference.

The Iranian foreign ministry declares its preparedness to cooperate with the international community to resolve the crisis in Yemen as soon as possible and underscores the necessity for speeding up the process to send humanitarian aid to the country, the statement concluded.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed more than 20,000 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children. Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with more than 22 million people in need and is seeing a spike in needs, fueled by ongoing conflict, a collapsing economy and diminished social services and livelihoods. The blockade on Yemen has smothered humanitarian deliveries of food and medicine to the import-dependent state.

The UN has repeatedly criticized the Saudi-UAE-led military coalition’s bombing campaign and placed it on a blacklist of child rights violators last year.

A UN panel has also compiled a detailed report of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military and its allies during their war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led coalition has used precision-guided munitions in its raids on civilian targets