Iran blocking peace in Yemen: Saudi Arabia

Riyadh : Iran is blocking the peace efforts in Yemen by providing weapons to Houthi rebels through smuggling, Saudi Arabia said yesterday. 

Speaking at a summit of foreign ministers and military officials from Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Morocco and Yemen, the Saudi foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir said Tehran was the “greatest sponsor” of the rebels and forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

“Iran is destroying all attempts to find a solution in Yemen, which has led to the failure of all political negotiations between the government and these militias,” Al Jubeir said at the summit held in Riyadh. 

“These militias would not have continued operations without the support of the greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world — the Iranian regime,” he said. Al Jubeir said the actions of the Houthi rebels and Saleh forces had “imposed military action”. “When we talk about Yemen and our alliance to support the legitimate [government], we have to remember the war of the Houthi and Saleh militias on the stability of the country, their kidnapping of it, the crimes they have committed against the Yemeni people, their offensive on Yemen’s neighbouring countries — including Saudi Arabia and the UAE — and their continuous threats against the stability of the region,” he said.

“This behaviour has kidnapped the will of the people and imposed military action after continues violations and assaults that have not yet stopped.”

Al Jubeir said the rebels’ actions had robbed more than four million children of an education and childhood, adding that they have recruited more than 1,000 minors to their ranks.

“We are facing militias that have ruined childhoods and caused poverty, hunger and sickness,” he said, adding: “They have targeted cities and civilians, destroyed homes and planted landmines that have resulted in the painful loss of lives. Faced with these facts, our coalition is determined to save Yemen and drain the springs of terrorism.”