US Allegations of Aggravating Yemeni Crisis Dismissed

Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the unfounded allegations made by the United States about Tehran’s role in escalating tensions in Yemen, saying Washington should be held accountable for six years of crime against Yemenis and its arms sales to the Saudi-led coalition.
In a statement on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh lashed out at accusations by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying, “The Americans, who must be held accountable for their crimes in Yemen for six years, cannot make groundless accusations against others as a claimant.”
Blinken had alleged on Tuesday that Iran’s involvement in Yemen “fans the flames of the conflict, threatening greater escalation, miscalculation, and regional instability.”
Khatibzadeh said in response that the aggressors on Yemen are trying to evade the responsibility of their crimes and divert public attention after realizing that their “anti-human military strategy” has been defeated by Yemen’s resistance after six years of massacring the innocent Yemeni people, destroying this great country’s infrastructure and making profit from arms sales to the Saudi-led military coalition in “blood trade”.
He also decried the new US administration’s failure to take a practical measure to end the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen despite its claims, saying it is repeating its predecessor’s mistake of leveling baseless accusations and ignoring the realities on the ground.
“Their claims for the establishment of peace in Yemen has remained in words and they have been content with a few political maneuvers in this regard,” he said. 
The spokesman stressed that Iran’s stances have always been clear since the outset of the Yemen war. 
 “We have always emphasized that there is no military solution to the crisis in Yemen and the four-point [peace] initiative that Iran put forward at the beginning of the war is still on the table as a political solution,” he added.
Iran will continue to use all its capacities to advance the United Nations’ efforts toward peace in Yemen and will support any initiative that would lead to the termination of aggression against this nation, he said. 

Conversation with Guterres

Earlier on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had held a phone conversation with and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, where both officials urged the start of political peace talks to put an end to the protracted war in Yemen.
The UN chief called for the continuation of Iran’s prominent efforts in helping to establish peace in the war-ravaged country, Iran’s foreign ministry reported. 
Zarif also expressed Iran’s support for the UN’s efforts to restore fair peace in Yemen, and stressed the need for putting an end to the war and lifting the blockade to provide humanitarian assistance to the famine-stricken Yemeni people.
He also expressed hope that intra-Yemeni talks and formation of an inclusive government would eventually re-establish peace and stability in Yemen.
A war has been going on Yemen since March 2015 between the Houthi fighters and a Saudi-led coalition which supports the government of the ousted President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
The conflict has created one of the world humanitarian crises of the century, driving the country to the verge of famine, with 80% of Yemen’s 30 million people in need of some form of aid or protection, according to the UN. 
Iran in 2015 submitted a four-point peace plan for Yemen to the then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The plan calls for an immediate ceasefire and end of all foreign military attacks, humanitarian assistance, a resumption of broad national dialogue and “establishment of an inclusive national unity government.”
It also warned that the instability was allowing terrorist groups to gain a foothold in Yemen.