Iran reiterates its four-point plan to end crisis in Yemen

The spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday urged the need to use Tehran’s four-step initiative to put an end to the ongoing crisis in Yemen.

Noting that Iran backs any efforts by the international community to support Yemen and stop support for the aggressors, Saeed Khatibzadeh said Tehran’s four-point initiative “is still effective”, Foreign Ministry official website reported.

In April 2015, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a letter to the then Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon handed over a four-point plan to end sufferings of the Yemeni people.

Based on the initiative, Iran suggested putting an end to the war on Yemen, declaring a cease-fire, providing humanitarian aid for the war-torn country and establishing an inclusive national unity government.

Commenting on recent remarks made by US officials about the situation in Yemen, Khatibzadeh said a halt on the support for the so-called Saudi coalition and ending the arms sales to Riyadh, “if not a political gesture, will be considered a step toward correcting past mistakes.”

US President Joe Biden announced Thursday the withdrawal of US support for the Saudi-led offensive in his first major foreign policy speech since replacing Trump.

The Ansarullah movement welcomed the approach of the new US administration.

“We are cautiously optimistic,” Houthi official Hameed Assem told AFP on Friday.

Khatibzadeh stressed that remarks made by the US president “is not enough per se and cannot solve the problem in Yemen. This must be followed by a halt on the air, sea, and land siege, which has caused the death of thousands of Yemeni people for the lack of food and medications, and also a halt on the attacks by the aggressors.”

He went on to say that the world community and certain countries that are assisting the Saudis against the Yemenis, should put an end to their soft and hard support for Saudi Arabia.

The foreign ministry spokesman further said that the Saudis are trying to acquit themselves of the guilt of attacking Yemen and killing thousands of Yemeni children and women by acting in line with the US maximum pressure and baselessly accusing other countries.

Saudi Arabia, accompanied by its allies including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has been leading a war against Yemen since March 2015 with the aim of bringing the former pro-Riyadh government back to power, Press TV reported.

The war has also been accompanied by an all-out siege of the impoverished country. It has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and turned Yemen into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Source: Iran Daily