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Zarif Strongly Condemns Saudi’s Latest Atrocity in a Letter to UN

Local Editor

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has voiced his "shock and disgust" over a Saudi Arabian airstrike on a Yemeni funeral which killed over 140 civilians.

Zarif condemned Riyadh’s latest atrocity in a letter penned to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday.

"According to the preliminary figures announced by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, the number of killed and injured of the Sep. 8 attack has been reported at 640," Zarif said in his letter, "this ghastly and vicious attack that once again revealed the complete disregard of the aggressors against the people of Yemen for human life, is another example of thousands of other similar cases in the past year and a half that caused the death or permanent disability of thousand Yemenis and displacement of over three million people."

"Not only Saudi Arabia, but also those who have supported the aggression by the Saudi-led coalition against Yemeni people should be held accountable for the war crimes perpetrated in Yemen over the past year and a half," he said.
"There is no doubt that the Saudi attacks on civilians and non-military infrastructures of Yemen would have not been possible without the extensive and broad support from certain Western countries," Zarif stressed. "These supports include providing them with arms, intelligence cooperation, aviation fuel supply, joint planning, etc."

"Due to the severity of the situation in Yemen and the extensive destruction caused by the recent attack on a funeral ceremony in Sana’a, the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to send humanitarian and medical aid to Yemeni people and help with the transfer of the injured to Iranian hospitals," Zarif said.

Iran’s foreign minister also called on Ban to facilitate a proposal by the Iranian Red Crescent Society to send humanitarian aid to the Yemeni capital Sana’a.

"In view of the gravity of the situation in Yemen and the devastation caused by the attacks against the funeral hall, the Iranian Red Crescent Society is proposing to arrange for humanitarian assistance, including medical supplies, to the Yemeni people and evacuating the injured to hospitals in Iran," he added.

Earlier, Ban called for a swift, independent probe into the airstrike, while stressing that "Those responsible for the attack must be brought to justice."

More than 140 people were killed and over 525 wounded on Saturday, when a Saudi airstrike hit a community hall in south of the capital, where a funeral for the father of Interior Minister Jalal al-Roweishan was being held.

The death toll was one of the largest in a single incident since March 2015, when the Riyadh regime began its deadly campaign to crush the Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah movement and their allies and restore power to the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Saudi Arabia began its deadly campaign against Yemen in late March 2015. The strikes were meant to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

About 10,000 people have been killed and over 16,000 injured since Riyadh launched the airstrikes. The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s facilities and infrastructure.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team

 

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