New Iranian ambassador submits credentials to chairman of Yemeni Supreme Political Council

Iran’s new ambassador to Sana’a has submitted his credentials to Yemeni officials amid the United States’ ire at the progressive course of the two countries’ relations.

Hassan Irloo submitted his bona fides to Mahdi al-Mashat, head of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, during a meeting in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported.

The meeting that took place with other senior Yemeni officials in attendance, including Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf, discussed potential means of reinforcement and strengthening of the bilateral ties.

Mashat welcomed Irloo, wishing him success, and asserting that his country would do all that was necessary to help the Iranian envoy perform his diplomatic mission.

Irloo, for his part, conveyed President Hassan Rouhani’s regards to the Yemeni official, wishing him well-being and the Yemeni people development and progress.

Last month, US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus issued a raft of meddlesome remarks on Iran-Yemen relations.

She addressed Iran’s appointment of Irloo as its new envoy to Yemen, claiming that the Islamic Republic had “smuggled” the official into Sana’a. This is while Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh had earlier personally verified the appointment and Iran’s reputable news agencies widely reported on the development.

Ortagus also alleged that Irloo was representing Iran to Yemen’s Houthi “militias.”

The Yemeni popular defense movement, also known as Ansarullah, is part of the Supreme Political Council. The movement took over managing the country’s affairs after Yemen’s former Saudi-backed government fled to Riyadh amid a power crisis and refused to stay behind and negotiate power with Ansarullah.

The Houthis have also been defending their country against a 2015-present Saudi-led and US-backed war that has been seeking to return Yemen’s Riyadh-allied officials.

The war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and forced the Arab world’s already poorest country close to the edge of outright famine. The overall situation has, according to the United Nations, turned Yemen into the scene of the world’s “worst” humanitarian crisis.

Responding to Ortagus’ remarks back then, Khatibzadeh said in a tweet at the time that Washington had better end its years-long atrocities against the impoverished nation than advise it on its ties with the outside world.

US in no position to lecture Yemenis, Iranians on bilateral ties: Ministry spokesman

The Foreign Ministry spokesman reacts to interventionist remarks by a US official on Iran’s relations with Yemen.

“The US has underwritten 5yrs of Saudi-led slaughter in Yemen,” the spokesman said, adding, “US is thus in NO position to lecture Yemenis & Iranians abt their bilat ties. Better to end your crimes & malign presence in our region.”

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