Iran's FM Confers with UN Aid Deputy on Yemen
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held a meeting with the visiting UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos over the ongoing war in Yemen.
In their Wednesday meeting here in Tehran, the two sides explored avenues for facilitating the delivery of aid to the people of Yemen, and stressed the necessity for the acceleration of aid dispatch to the war-ravaged country.
Pointing to the repeated violations of the ceasefire by Saudi Arabia, Zarif noted that the 5-day cessation of attacks failed to provide the ground for the immediate and complete dispatch of aid to Yemenis.
Iran's top diplomat further reiterated that certain "safe zones" should be created inside Yemen to allow the delivery of humanitarian supplies to the poor country.
Amos, for her part, confirmed that the humanitarian aid should be delivered to Yemenis with less difficulties and restrictions.
She further proposed that, as a way to facilitate the relief operation, humanitarian aid can first be carried to areas outside Yemen and then transferred to the Arab country.
Referring to the proposal, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who also had a meeting with Amos, noted that Iran has offered the UN to choose Kish Island in southern Iran as a temporary place for unloading the aid cargos.
Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies on March 26 began to launch deadly air strikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
According to Yemen's Freedom House Foundation, the Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Yemeni people so far while more than 6,887 others have been wounded.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen resumed early Monday, hours after the expiry of a five-day truce meant to facilitate the delivery of badly needed humanitarian aid.