Iran urges UN to intervene and halt war in Yemen

A senior Iranian official has called on the UN special envoy to Yemen to intervene and halt Saudi war on Yemen and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe from taking place in the impoverished state. 

"The Islamic Republic of Iran expects Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN secretary general's envoy to Yemen, to immediately travel to this country and take action for halting strikes and preventing the intensification of humanitarian catastrophe," Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a Sunday telephone conversation with UN Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos.

The Iranian official denounced Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes against Yemeni infrastructure and civilian targets in the northwestern province of Sa’ada and the northern province of Amran over the past two days.

He said destruction of airports, which had been prepared to handle relief aid supplied by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and international aid organizations, is a “blatant violation of international and humanitarian laws.”

Amir-Abdollahian expressed Iran’s readiness to send fuel and petroleum products to various Yemeni ports in full coordination with the UN relief program and also dispatch medical teams and set up field hospitals in the cities of Sana’a, Sa’ada and Aden.

“Iran is ready to immediately send relief and food cargoes either through air routes to Djibouti or directly to Yemen,” he said.

Amir-Abdollahian also stated that Tehran is ready to swiftly fly those injured in the Saudi airstrikes to Iran for medical treatment.

Amos, for her part, commended Iran’s support for relief operations in Yemen, saying the United Nations has prepared comprehensive plans to help civilians in the war-hit country.

She added that Iran’s humanitarian aid would be dispatched to Yemen in line with the UN relief work.

Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 - without a UN mandate - in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The Saudi military campaign has reportedly claimed the lives of over 1,200 people so far and injured thousands of others. Hundreds of women and children are among the victims, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Al Saud regime has imposed a blockade on the delivery of relief supplies to the war-stricken people of Yemen in defiance of calls by international aid groups.

Earlier this week, the ICRC and medical charity group, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), known in English as Doctors Without Borders, expressed “extreme” concern about the Saudi airstrikes on Yemen’s lifelines and its obstruction of aid deliveries to the impoverished nation.

SF/KA/SS

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk