Rouhani: KSA’s Aggression on Yemen a Strategic Blunder

Local Editor

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani denounced Saudi Arabia’s military aggression against Yemen. He further stressed that Riyadh has made a "very big strategic mistake" by conducting its military campaign against Sana’a.

’’ro6_515_01’’

"The war that took place in Yemen which is in fact not a war, but an unfair attack on a neighboring country by bombarding them," Rouhani said on Saturday.
He added that Saudi Arabia is pouring bombs on the impoverished Yemeni people instead of helping the developing country.

In parallel, the Iranian President said the Saudi government which has no knowledge of political issues in the region and across the world has chosen "the path of bomb" in Yemen.
"The catastrophic humanitarian situation in the oppressed Muslim country of Yemen is a historic test for the world."

"If our sorrow for Yemen is not equal to our grief for a so-and-so European or Asian country, it shows that we have trampled upon all human principles and [the principles of] the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] and the Iranian Red Crescent Society [IRCS]," Rouhani said.

He noted that impartiality is the main principle for the ICRC and the IRCS, stressing that the two bodies should make no difference among nations whether in Yemen and Syria or other countries.

He further commended IRCS’s efforts to dispatch humanitarian aid to the war-wracked Yemeni people and said some bids have failed to yield results due to moves which run counter to international regulations.

He emphasized that Iran would proceed with its efforts to send relief aid to Yemen.
The ICRC and the medical charity group, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), have expressed "extreme" concern over the Saudi airstrikes on Yemen’s lifelines and its obstruction of aid deliveries to the impoverished nation.

The UN has also called for "safe and reliable" access to Yemen’s Sana’a International Airport for the delivery of aid.