Iran: UNSC resolution against Yemen’s Ansarullah hinders peace

The resolution “bears negative repercussions for the path towards peace,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Tuesday.

A day earlier, the 15-member Council voted in favor of expanding a targeted UN arms embargo on several leaders of the Houthi Ansarullah movement to the entire group.

The movement has taken charge of running Yemen since 2015, when the country’s former Western- and Saudi-allied government fled amid a political crisis refusing to stay behind and negotiate a solution.

A Saudi-led coalition featuring many of Riyadh’s allies then invaded Yemen to reinstate the officials.

The war, which has been enjoying almost uninterrupted arms, logistical, and political support from the United States, has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis, and turned Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The resolution strongly condemned counterattacks by Yemeni fighters, including those on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — Riyadh’s main ally in the war coalition — and demanded immediate cessation of the reprisal.

The resolution, Khatibzadeh added, has been adopted in line with “the political considerations and lobbying of members of the aggressor coalition.”

It, therefore, runs counter to the efforts that are being spent to revive the political process by further distancing the positions of the parties to the conflict, noted the official.

Khatibzadeh slammed the Security Council for having “distanced itself from its inherent duties” regarding Yemen since the onset of the Saudi-led war and turning a blind eye to the crimes committed by the aggressors.

This, he added, had contributed to “systematic and serious violations of the international humanitarian laws, massacre of civilians, extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure, and illegal embargo of [Yemen’s] ports and airports,” amid international silence.

Such an approach further complicates the prospect of achieving a “fair” and “lasting” peace, Khatibzadeh added.