Iran Sympathizes with Yemen over Assassination of Houthi Leader

In a statement released on Tuesday, Qassemi condemned the killing of Samad and expressed sympathy with his bereaved family and the members of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council.

The spokesman further praised the resistance of the brave people of Yemen against the Saudi-led coalition over the past three years and said in the not too distant future, they would “enjoy the sweet taste” of victory against aggressors.

The Supreme Political Council announced on Monday that Samad lost his life after the Saudi jets hit his residence in the Red Sea port city of Hudaydah on Thursday.

The council conveyed its sincere condolences to the Yemeni nation for the loss of Samad, an influential figure in Yemen’s resistance against a more-than-three-year-old war imposed by Riyadh on the impoverished country.

The council, Yemen’s top governing body, also appointed Mehdi Mohammad Hussein al-Mashat as its new chairman.

Meanwhile, leader of Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi, in a live speech, said all aggressor countries, including the US and Saudi Arabia, were responsible for the killing of Samad, and they must await the consequences of their crime.

He also stressed that such crimes against the Yemeni nation would not break the will of his people in defending their country against the so-called military coalition. 

Yemen’s defenseless people have been under massive attacks by the coalition for over three years but Riyadh has reached none of its objectives in Yemen so far.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Over 14,000 Yemenis, including thousands of women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.