Yemen Crisis Archives - Iran News Daily

Iran, Ansarullah Discuss Yemen Crisis

reporter 1222 — Sun, 10 May 2020 06:01:08 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Ali Asghar Khaji, a senior assistant to Iran’s Foreign Minister in special political affairs, discussed the situation in Yemen with Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the spokesperson for Yemen’s Ansarullah Movement and the chief negotiator of the National Salvation Government.

As part of Iran’s constant consultations about Yemen, Khaji held a video conversation with Abdul-Salam on Saturday.

In the conversation, Abdul-Salam praised Iran for its humanitarian assistance as well as political and spiritual support for the people of Yemen, expressed the Yemeni National Salvation Government’s readiness to achieve a fair political consensus, and briefed the Iranian diplomat on the latest political and on-the-ground developments in Yemen.

For his part, the Iranian diplomat stressed that the solution to the crisis in Yemen is a political agreement entailing an end to the war, complete removal of the blockade on sea, land and air routes in Yemen, and the resumption of Yemeni-Yemeni talks, the Foreign Ministry’s website reported.

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Houthis censure UN medical evacuation plan

reporter 1222 — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 06:02:07 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Yemen’s Houthis on Sunday censured the UN medical evacuation plan as inadequate for thousands of people in urgent need of treatment.

“The World Health Organization said it will transport via a small UN plane only seven patients with their escorts per flight,” the officials said in a statement carried by Al-Masira channel.

“The number of people signed up for the UN medical evacuations plan is around 32,000 patients with serious illnesses,” Houthis official said.

Critically ill Yemeni children in need of medical care were evacuated from Sana’a on Monday, in what the United Nations said it hopes will be the first of many mercy flights, AFP reported.

Welcoming the start of the humanitarian airlift, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said that others were handed a “death sentence” when the coalition closed down the airport in Sana’a.

“Today’s move comes too late for thousands of Yemenis who died waiting to leave the country for urgent life-saving care,” said Mohamed Abdi, the NRC’s country director for Yemen.

“We hope that these medical flights will save the lives of other Yemenis. Many more are still waiting to get the health care they need.”

At least 32,000 Yemenis are estimated to have died waiting to get specialized medical treatment abroad according to the Ministry of Health in Sana’a, nrc.no reported.

The medical flights will transport 30 patients to Cairo and Amman with chronic diseases who cannot be treated inside Yemen.

Seven young patients and their families gathered at Sana’a airport, which has been closed to commercial flights since 2016, clutching their transport documents ahead of their journey to the Jordanian capital Amman.

“This is the first of what we hope and believe will be many flights,” UN Resident Coordinator for Yemen Lise Grande said as the first humanitarian flight was prepared to depart from the war-torn country.

“It’s a very important day, it’s a day of hope. It shows that everyone wants the people who need help to get that help,” she told reporters at the airport.

“The key is to have many flights, bigger planes, so that the people who need aid can get to the places where they will receive it.”

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths last month told the Security Council that “we are very close to seeing the first flight move 30 patients who are now waiting in Sanaa for their treatment”.

The move was among confidence-building measures aimed at ending a five-year war which has left tens of thousands of people dead and displaced millions in what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Houthis control swathes of Yemen since a Saudi-backed government fled the country in late 2014. The development caused Saudi Arabia and allies to launch an all-out war on the impoverished country.

The Saudi-led war has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with the World Food Programme saying that over 11 million people face a daily struggle to find enough food, and 240,000 people live in famine-like conditions.

In November, the coalition – which controls Yemen’s airspace – said that patients needing medical care would be allowed to be flown out of Sana’a.

One of the children waiting for the evacuation flight, Abdullah Abed, is suffering from kidney failure and needs an organ transplant, his father told AFP.

“Severe diseases in Yemen are many, and people need to travel. The United Nations must operate the air bridge regularly, send abroad patients suffering from diseases, open Sanaa airport, and end the blockade of Yemen”, Abed Ali Murshid said.

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Yemen Crisis Talks, A Peaceful Solution

reporter 1222 — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 13:37:02 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined his country’s support for peaceful solutions and talks to resolve the Yemen crisis.

“Iran sees no benefit in continued war and siege in Yemen, but it welcomes peaceful solutions,” Zarif wrote on his twitter page in the Arabic language on Thursday.

He added that Iran welcomes all initiatives which invite to talks and persuades everyone to use peaceful solutions.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past four and a half years.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

The Western-backed military aggression, coupled with a naval blockade, has plunged Yemen into “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”, according to the United Nations.

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Malnutrition in Yemen will claim kids lives for 20 Years

reporter 1222 — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 08:39:37 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – A new report by the International Rescue Committee said the Saudi-led war on Yemen will cost the international community as much as $29 billion if it continues, along with the widespread malnutrition in Yemen kids.

Even if the nearly-five-year Saudi war in Yemen were to end today, it would take two decades for the impoverished Yemen’s children to reach the lesser level of malnutrition they suffered before the conflict, according to the new report by the charity organization.

Without an immediate ceasefire, the war could cost the international community an additional $29bn (£22bn) in resources, according to the International Rescue Committee’s report The War Destroyed Our Dreams, the Independent reported.

“Yemen is now home to the largest food insecure population in the world,” says the 20-page report.

And the situation is worsening. Just a year ago, famine was declared in certain parts of the country. Now, 80 percent of the country’s population of 24 million is facing severe food shortages and living on the edge of famine, with children suffering the most.

“It means each child is robbed of opportunities they would have had,” said Frank McManus, Yemen director for the IRC, speaking in a phone interview from the capital, Sana’a.

“Malnourishment is not something you can recover from,” he said. “It will shorten your height. It will limit your opportunities. It will impact how you will develop.

“This will also restrict the development of the nation,” he continued. “So much of the youth will be less than they could have been if they hadn’t gone through this.”

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly 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.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives ever since.

The United Nations says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

An estimated two million children in Yemen are currently suffering from acute malnutrition, including 360,000 under five years old, according to recent UNICEF reports.

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Violations of 2231 Resolution by US are Ignored

reporter 1222 — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 08:29:57 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Gholam-Hossein Dehghani slammed the UN’s reports for ignoring the United States’ repeated violations of the JCPOA and the Security Council Resolution 2231.

Axel Kenes, the Belgian Foreign Ministry’s Director-General for Multilateral Affairs and Globalisation, met with Gholam-Hossein Dehghani, the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs on Wednesday in Tehran.

During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on various international issues including the full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the JCPOA, and the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 by all parties.

Dehghani slammed the UN Secretariat’s reports on the implementation of the Security Council Resolution 2231, which ignore the United States’ repeated violations of the JCPOA and the Resolution.

He also underlined the significant role of other Security Council member states in opposition to the US’ unilateralism and the instrumental use of the UN principal organs.

The Iranian diplomat also pointed to the Security Council’s one-sided approach on issues like the Yemen crisis and its insufficient attention to the humanitarian aspects of such crises.

He urged Belgium as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council which represents all other UN member states to make further efforts to settle those crises peacefully.

Kenes, whose country acts as a facilitator of the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, was on a two-day trip to Tehran, during which he also held talks with deputy FM Araghchi and Iran’s senior negotiator in Yemen and Syria talks Ali-Asghar Khaji.

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Oxfam: 15 Million Yemenis at Risk of Deadly Diseases

reporter 1222 — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 08:02:44 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Fifteen million Yemenis at Risk of Deadly Diseases such as cholera as their water supplies have been severely cut amid the Saudi regime’s aggression against the Arab country, Oxfam warned.

A fuel crisis has seen prices soar, meaning piped water systems and water trucking routes have not been able to run at full capacity leading to the severe water shortages. And in the end there are millions of Yemenis at risk of deadly diseases.

The lack of clean water will lead to the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera, the group said.

War-ravaged Yemen has already seen the worst epidemic of cholera in recorded history.

The World Health Organization said in September it had registered more than 1 million suspected cases and nearly 1,500 associated deaths across 22 of the country’s 23 governorates since the aggression began.

“This weaponization of the Yemeni economy is yet another cruelty inflicted on the people of Yemen who have been forced to endure four years of conflict,” Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Yemen country director, said in a statement, Independent reported.

“All sides need to end the restrictions being imposed on importers so that fuel can once again reach the country unimpeded.”

“As a result, ships carrying fuel have stopped docking, and prices have shot up due to the lack of supply,” the group said.

That has meant in the Yemeni capital Sana’a petrol prices have tripled since August, it added.

The soaring costs have meant that 11 million people relying on water supplied by piped networks and 4 million people who depend on water trucked in by private companies have seen a massive drop in their water supply.

Central water systems have completely shut down in three major cities, Ibb, Dhamar and Al Mahwit, home to around 400,000 people.

Airstrikes have also worsened the crisis. Eight of the water systems installed by Oxfam been damaged or destroyed in the fighting, cutting off water supplies to more than a quarter of a million people.

The UN has warned hopes are still “fragile” and reported that September was the deadliest month for civilians in Yemen this year, with reports of 388 killed or injured.

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Iran to respond decisively to any potential aggression: Shamkhani

reporter 1222 — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 12:30:47 +0000

Iran’s strategic policy is reduction of tensions and prevention of any conflicts as well as resolving regional crisis via talks, he said, adding “accordingly, we are fully prepared to give a strong and decisive response to any possible aggression [against us].”

He also referred to the current developments in Yemen, saying “the Yemen crisis has dragged on for over 50 months due to Saudi Arabia’s military attacks and there is no solution to it except holding Yemeni-Yemeni talks without interference of any secondary parties.”

He underlined that Yemenis have the right to defend themselves against the cruel massacre and foreign attacks on their country.

The Iranian security official then addressed the US’ efforts to pin the attack on Saudi oil facilities on Iran, saying “Weapons in use of the Yemeni army are designed and manufactured by Yemenis and relating the issue to other countries shows that the US is trying to make a ‘escape forward’,” he added.

Yemen’s Ansarullah forces launched drone attacks on Saturday morning at two Saudi oil facilities in Abqaiq in eastern Saudia Arabia and Khurais northeast of Riyadh, disrupting Saudi oil production and exports. The attacks are said to be in retaliation of Saudi’s continued war against Yemeni people.

Following the attack, US Senator Lindsey Graham blamed Iran with baseless accusations, recommending that the US “put on the table an attack on Iranian oil refineries if they continue their provocations”.

Moreover, US Secretary Mike Pompeo pinned the blame on Tehran over the attacks calling for public condemnation of ‘Iran’s actions’.

The unfounded accusations against Iran come as the United States has been a staunch supporter of Saudi Arabia’s war campaign against civilians in Yemen which, according to reports, has claimed more than 91,000 lives over the past four and a half years.

Iran has slammed the US’ accusations and has sent a note to Washington in which it has strongly dismissed any involvement in Yemeni raids, and warned of any anti-Iranian measure after the incident.

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Iran sends note to US following attacks at Saudi oil facilities

reporter 1222 — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 09:20:26 +0000

The message has been sent on Monday via the Swiss embassy, which looks after American affairs in Iran.

Tehran, in the message, has strongly dismissed any involvement in Yemeni raids, also warning of any anti-Iranian measure after the incident.

The message condemned remarks of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo along with other US officials against Iran, warning that in case of any aggression against the Islamic Republic, Iran’s response will be prompt and strong and it may include broader areas than the source of attacks.

Yemen’s forces have claimed responsibility for the attack on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities on Saturday, but the United States has rejected their claim and President Donald Trump has said that Iran appeared to be responsible for the strike.

On Saturday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the US should mull bombing Iranian oil refineries. “It is now time for the US to put on the table an attack on Iranian oil refineries if they continue their provocations or increase nuclear enrichment,” the war-mongering senator from South Carolina said.

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Yemenis attack on Saudi industrial site ‘just a warning’: Rouhani

reporter 1222 — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 08:30:26 +0000

Addressing a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Rouhani said that “we do not want tensions in the region, but you have to ask who started the tension in the first place? It was not the Yemenis. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the US and some European countries besides the Zionist regime have ignited a war and destroyed Yemen.”

“The aggressors want every one to remain silent when they kill civilians or when they send their weapons to the region but when Yemenis show a reaction they start to condemn the measure,” he added.

Addressing the aggressors in Yemen, namely the Saudi-led, US-backed coalition, Rouhani said “Yemenis attacked an industrial site not a hospital, a school or bazaar. That was just a warning, which you should heed.”

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‘Smart’ Yemenis used their ‘right to self-defense’: MP

reporter 1222 — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 07:45:14 +0000

“Despite lack of facilities, Yemen has smart people. They adopted a clever retaliatory measure in recent days and used their right to self-defense,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on Wednesday.

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and their allies in the Yemeni army deployed as many as 10 drones to bomb Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities run by the Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco before dawn Saturday. US and its allies rushed to blame Iran for the attacks without providing any credible evidence.

“Yemen’s measure was a reaction to various illegal actions and war crimes of Saudi Arabia and had nothing to do with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Boroujerdi added.

“No Iranian forces are in Yemen,” highlighted the MP, adding that Yemen’s recent retaliatory measure was based on its own domestic capabilities.

He went on to stress that “American and Saudi officials and their allies are trying to establish ‘maximum deceit’ along with the ‘maximum pressure’ against the Iranian nation because they are in a position of failure.”

The unprecedented attack knocked out more than half of Saudi crude output, or 5% of global supply, prompting Saudi and US officials to claim without any evidence that it probably originated from Iraq or Iran.

In reaction to US baseless accusations, Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said that “These comments and measures seem to be plans of secret organizations and intelligence services to tarnish the image of a country in a bid to prepare the ground for measures in the future. Americans are pursuing a policy dubbed ‘maximum pressure’ which has now turned into ‘maximum deceit’ due to its failures.”

Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of its vassal states in waging war on Yemen since March 2015 to reinstall former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who resigned from presidency and fled to Riyadh in January 2015 amid popular outcry over corruption and mismanagement of the economy. Yemen’s Ansarullah forces then took over state matters to prevent the country from descending into chaos.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.

The war has taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

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