The foreign minister described the decision by the Saudi-led coalition to announce the end of their month-long air campaign against Yemen as a “positive development”, expressing Iran’s readiness to help facilitate the beginning of dialogue between Yemeni groups to form an “inclusive government” in the war-torn country and provide humanitarian aid to its people.
“The positive developments in Yemen should be followed by immediate humanitarian assistance (to the Yemeni people) and talks among Yemeni factions aimed at forming an inclusive government in the country,” Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by Fars news agency as saying in a message on his twitter account on Wednesday, stressing, “We are ready to help.”
In a statement released late on Tuesday, the Saudi government announced the decision, saying it will back a political solution to bring peace to its war-wracked neighbor.
The White House welcomed Saudi Arabia’s announcement, which followed months of fighting between Houthi fighters and forces loyal to the ousted government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur.
“Operation Decisive Storm has achieved its goals ... (including) removing the threat to Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries, especially in terms of heavy weapons,” the statement said.
Step Forward
Iran also welcomed the ceasefire on Tuesday, when the foreign ministry spokesperson described the move as “a step forward”, calling on all sides involved to make their contribution to efforts aimed at helping resolve the conflict raging in the country.
“We had announced earlier that no military solution could resolve Yemen’s crisis, and the ceasefire and the halt to the killing of innocent and defenseless people is considered a step forward,” Marzieh Afkham was quoted by ISNA as saying, voicing hope that “all sides involved will help improve the situation in Yemen.”
In another development, the Majlis speaker denounced the airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition as an indication of a “poor strategic vision” which only resulted in the massacre of the Yemeni people and the destruction of the country’s infrastructures.
“(What is) deplorable is that the Saudi government has announced that the stage of restoring hope to Yemenis marks the beginning of a diplomatic operation,” Ali Larijani said, reminding, “(The Saudis) seem to have missed another stage (as a prerequisite for the operation).”
“That is the stage of restoring the morale of the Saudi government after its disastrous defeat.”
Saudi Arabia’s statement said a new phase called “Operation Restoring Hope” was beginning. It would combine political, diplomatic and military action but would focus on “the political process that will lead to a stable and secure future for Yemen,” Reuters reported.
Saudi spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said the alliance may still target Houthis. “The coalition will continue to prevent the Houthi militias from moving or undertaking any operations inside Yemen,” he told reporters in Riyadh.
Elsewhere, in an interview with IRIB News on Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian underlined Iran’s role in helping secure the ceasefire, saying, “Our diplomatic efforts and consultations, whose details we will be disclosed later, led to this development, that is, the ending of the military operation against Yemen.”
