Iran urges int’l action to avert humanitarian crisis in Yemen

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham has called on the international community to take action to ward off a humanitarian crisis in war-hit Yemen.

“We expect the international community to pay specific attention to the Yemeni people to avert a humanitarian crisis in Yemen,” Afkham told reporters at her weekly press conference on Wednesday as Saudi Arabia is continuing its brutal airstrikes against Yemen despite the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Arab country, according to Press TV.

Stressing that Iran condemned the Saudi airstrikes against Yemen at the very beginning of the military aggression, Afkham also called on the global community to help stop killing the Yemeni people.  

The Iranian official also lashed out at Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen, saying the siege has imposed “severe restrictions” on people’s access to basic needs, including power, water, foodstuff and medicine.

Afkham said that Iran is in talks with international bodies as well as other countries to end the blockade on Yemen for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the impoverished Arab country.

Riyadh launched its military aggression against neighboring Yemen on March 26 – without a United Nations mandate – in a bid to undermine the Arab country’s popular committees back by the Ansarullah movement and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Saudis.

Saudi Arabia has also been blocking aid to Yemen.

Last month, it prevented two Iranian civilian planes from delivering medical aid and foodstuff to the Yemeni people.

On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the medical charity group, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), expressed “extreme” concern over the Saudi airstrikes on Yemen’s lifelines and its obstruction of aid deliveries to the impoverished nation.

The UN has also called for “safe and reliable” access to Yemen’s Sana’a International Airport for the delivery of aid.

Iran’s nuclear talks

Afkham said that the Iranian negotiating delegation opposes excessive demands in the course of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program, stressing that the Islamic republic will not succumb to pressure.

The Iranian official said Tehran will seriously pursue its “inalienable rights” in the talks, including uranium enrichment on home soil.

Afkham once again reaffirmed Iran’s stance that Tehran did not want a final nuclear agreement at any price, but stressed that the Islamic Republic was determined to put an end to the “fabricated” dispute over its nuclear program.

Iraq partitioning

Afkham slammed a controversial US Congress bill aimed at dividing Iraq into three states and said Iran backs the Arab country’s national solidarity and territorial integrity.

Warning that such plots are aimed at creating sectarian rife in Iraq and undermining the Baghdad government, the Iranian official urged the Iraqi nation to remain vigilant in the face of such plots.

The draft of the US annual defense bill, which was released on April 27 by the House Armed Services Committee, urges the US government to recognize separate Kurdish and Sunni states and provide them with at least 25 percent of the USD-715-million aid money planned to be given to the Iraqi government to help it fight the ISIL terrorist group.

The bill mandates that “the Kurdish Peshmerga, the Sunni tribal security forces with a national security mission, and the Iraqi Sunni National Guard be deemed a country,” adding that doing so “would allow these security forces to directly receive assistance from the United States.”

Maher Taki