Iran backs UN-brokered Yemen talks, warns of foreign meddling
A senior Iranian official has pledged the Islamic Republic’s support for the UN-brokered talks on Yemen, but slammed any foreign interference in the negotiations aimed at ending the crisis in the Arab country.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, made the remarks after a meeting with the UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in Tehran on Thursday.
He described talks with the UN envoy as positive and constructive, reiterating Iran's support for the Yemen negotiations due to be held in the Swiss city of Geneva next week.
“We announced that we will certainly try to contribute to the UN’s success in this regard, and will use our contacts with different Yemeni groups and will make efforts, so that the Yemenis can reach a conclusion in their negotiations,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
He, however, warned against foreign interference in the dialog, saying, “We expect the UN [not to allow] those who are beating the drums of war in Yemen to disrupt the Geneva talks.”
The Iranian diplomat also called for the implementation of Tehran’s four-point peace plan, which includes intra-Yemeni dialog and a ceasefire, and said that the Islamic Republic disapproves of any foreign meddling in the talks, adding that such interference can delay an end to the war in the impoverished Arab country.
Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26, without a UN mandate, in a bid to restore power to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a close ally of Riyadh.
In the latest airstrikes, at least four air raids hit different parts of the capital, Sana’a, as several attacks also targeted the city of Ma’arib in central Yemen.
Saudi fighter jets also bombarded two bridges in the Algha region in Amran province.
The Saudi airstrikes come as the UN is to host talks aimed at ending the crisis in Yemen in the Swiss city of Geneva on May 28.
On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on all parties to take part in the talks “without pre-conditions”, stressing that Yemen's conflict can only be resolved through an "inclusive, negotiated political settlement."
The United Nations says, since March 19, over 1,800 people have been killed and 7,330 wounded as a result of the conflict in Yemen.
AR/NN/HMV
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