Local Editor
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a meeting with European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Christos Stylianides in Tehran on Monday called on the international community to show care and attention to the deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Yemen.
"There is a need for paying heed to unfavorable humanitarian conditions in Yemen," Zarif said during the meeting.
The Iranian foreign minister underlined his country’s readiness to help the crisis-hit people of Yemen.
The EU commissioner, for his part, said that Iran exercised close cooperation with the European Union about humanitarian relief aid to the refugees, adding, "The EU believes that Iran should take higher position in international arena in this concern."
The Iranian foreign ministry on Monday once again urged Saudi Arabia to respect the ceasefire with Yemen and put an immediate end to the war against the poor Arab country.
"Saudi Arabia is required to retreat from Yemen at the earliest as it serves its own interests. Continuation of the status quo in Yemen would impose bigger challenges on Saudi Arabia in the region and the world," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi told reporters in Tehran.
Noting that the current situation in Yemen is in no way in the interest of Riyadh, he said in case "Saudi Arabia takes a more rational view to the issue (of Yemen), it will put an immediate end to the saddening tragedy and avoid bombing different regions in Yemen".
Qassemi expressed the hope that Riyadh would accept the ceasefire and terminate its airstrikes, and underlined the necessity for the establishment of a serious ceasefire under the UN supervision to pave the ground for political talks and finding a solution to the crisis in Yemen.
Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition attacked targets in Sana’a on Sunday, hours after a three-day truce in Yemen’s war expired, residents in the capital said.
The ceasefire, agreed in order to allow an increased flow of much-needed humanitarian aid, ended without renewal after a day of heavy fighting between the Saudi-led coalition and the Yemen’s popular forces.
Each side accused the other of repeatedly violating the truce and UN attempts to extend it before it lapsed appeared to have failed.
Airstrikes were reported over some military sites in Sana’a in the Hafa camp to the East and in the Nahdein area in the South. Radar positions were also targeted in the city of Hodeida, residents reported.
The strikes happened hours before the arrival in Sana’a of UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who is expected to discuss options for a political solution with Ansarullah representatives.
The United Nations and diplomats had hoped a pause in the conflict would pave the way for talks to end a 19-month-old war which has killed at least 11,800 people in the poorest Arab country.
The Saudi coalition has been pounding Yemen since March 2015 to try to restore to power the Saudi-backed fugitive President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
