The Foreign Ministry condemned an ongoing Saudi-led military attack on Yemen’s western port city of Hodeidah, voicing concern about deterioration of the humanitarian crisis in the war-stricken country.
In a statement on Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi strongly condemned the aerial and naval strikes by the Saudi-led military coalition on the Red Sea port, Tasnim News Agency reported.
Iran insists that the crisis in Yemen has no military solution.
“Such crimes (against the Yemeni people) have ruined a flicker of hope for the ongoing political efforts and will further complicate the situation,” the spokesman said.
Warplanes and warships of the Saudi-led multinational coalition have pounded Hodeidah in recent days to seize the strategic port, which is home to 600,000 people and controlled by the Houthi forces.
Reuters reported on Saturday that fighting in the airport area led to the closure of the northern entrance of Hodeidah.
The port is the main route for essential goods into Yemen, where 22 million people are in need of humanitarian aid and 8.4 million face starvation, according to the United Nations, which says the figure could reach 10 million by year end.
Aid agencies have said the battle may exacerbate an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in the impoverished Arab country.
The UN has warned that in a worst-case scenario, the battle could cost up to 250,000 lives and cut off aid supplies to millions of people.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
Over 14,000 Yemenis, including women and children, have died in the deadly military campaign.
