Iran Backs Yemen Talks but No Foreign Interference: Zarif
Local Editor
Iran voiced support on Thursday for efforts to re-launch political talks on the Yemen crisis but said it opposed foreign interference in the conflict.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also called for a cease-fire in Yemen, where Saudi-led coalition warplanes have stepped up raids against the impoverished country.
"Iran backs initiatives aimed at bringing Yemeni political groups around the negotiating table," Zarif said as he received the United Nations special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
Peace talks aimed at ending the crisis in Yemen will begin in the Swiss city of Geneva on May 28, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
Saudi Arabia began its US-led military aggression against Yemen on March 26 - without a UN mandate - in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement, and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a close ally of Saudi Arabia.
According to the UN, over 1,800 people have been killed and 7,330 injured since March 19 in the conflict in Yemen.
