Iran Underlines Support for Plurality in Future Yemeni Gov’t

Iran wants to see that the Yemeni people’s demands and interests are met and hopes that all factions and groups will have a share in the country’s future government, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said a day after some Yemeni media said Sana’s has asked for Tehran’s mediation to stop unrests.

“We support the political trends and hope that these mechanisms will be a response to the Yemeni people’s legitimate demands,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said in her weekly press conference in Tehran on Wednesday.

“We hope that the political future of Yemen will be formed based on the partnership and activities of all political groups, factions and parties and the future of the country will be formed through their partnership in a peaceful atmosphere,” she added.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis staged a rally in the capital of Sana’a on Tuesday, protesting against the government’s decision to raise fuel prices last month and demanding the resignation of the government, media reports said.

Yemen has suffered severe fuel shortage since May, when fuel supplies were available only in a few stations in major cities.

The protesters, most of whom supporters of the Shiite Houthi group, joined the rally in response to a call by Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the group, who vowed to set up a sit-in camp inside the capital until the people’s demands are met by the government.

During the demonstration, the protesters waved banners, blamed the government of lifting the fuel subsidies last month and demanded the resignation of cabinet members for the government’s failure of bringing welfare to the people and taking reforms in the country.

On Tuesday reports said that the Yemeni government has asked Oman to persuade Iran to start mediation efforts to prevent the spread of popular protests to the capital, Sana’a.

Yemen’s Braqshnet news website quoted informed sources as saying that Yemen has urged the Omani government to encourage Tehran to mediate between the central government and the protesters who were moving towards Sana’a. The protests have entered a new phase after al-Houthi and Ansarallah groups called on people to hold rallies in the country to protest at the government’s policies.

Based on the report, a Yemeni delegation has traveled to Masqat to pave the ground for Iran’s mediation.