Parliament Advisor:

Iran Never Seeks Military Approach to Crisis in Yemen

Senior Advisor to the Iranian Parliament Speaker Hossein Amir Abdollahian underlined that his country has always stressed the necessity for finding a political solution to the crisis in Yemen, blasting the US and Saudi Arabia for launching a devastating war against the poor Arab country.

News ID: 447166

Date: 21 September 2019 - 08:47

RNA - Amir Abdollahian noted on Wednesday that the US is behind the Saudi-led coalition’s aggression on Yemen, saying that the Saudis entered the Yemeni war equipped with the most advanced American weapons.

He pointed out while the Americans have given advanced warplanes to the Saudis, they have refused to sell them complementary reconnaissance drones to complete the mission of their fighter jets.

Amri Abdollahian added that the advanced American drones could have helped the pilots of the fighter jets to identify their target accurately while noting that the Saudi fighter jets' daily bombardments have proven to be futile.

The Iranian parliamentary official also stressed that Iran has never supported a military approach in the region and does not believe in a military solution to the crisis in Yemen.

He added that Iran seeks a political solution to the Yemeni crisis, while stressing “of course, the Yemeni people have the right to self-defense in order to reach a political solution.”

“Ultimately, it is up to the Saudis and their foreign instigators to decide that Yemen should be put on the road to negotiation as soon as possible. We hope that the Saudi rulers will be able to distance themselves from the war and return to their constructive role in the region and give the opportunity to negotiation, peace and dialogue,” Amir-Abdollahian added.

"We believe that Yemen does not only belong to Ansarullah and it belongs to all Yemenis. Ansarullah has the same understanding despite being the superior power in Yemen,” he noted, adding “All Yemenis must sit around the negotiating table and participate in their country's political future."

Meantime, Amir Abdollahian said that Saudi Arabia ignored the prior warnings by Yemeni Ansarullah before drone attacks on its oil facilities.

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement announced on Saturday that its drones had successfully attacked two oil plants in the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, stressing that the attacks were a firm response to Riyadh’s relentless bombardment of Yemen.

The recent operation came just weeks after Yemeni forces conducted attacks on an oil field affiliated to Saudi Aramco in the East of the kingdom in retaliation for Riyadh’s war on their country. Oil facilities at Shaybah, which has the largest strategic oil reserve in Saudi Arabia near the UAE border and operated by state-oil company Saudi Aramco, were targeted by 10 Yemeni drones.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed the Saturday drone attacks by the Yemeni army against Saudi Arabia's oil installations on Iran claiming on Twitter that there was “no evidence the attacks came from Yemen”.

After his remarks, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blasted Pompeo for allegations against Tehran, saying that Washington which had failed in pressures against Iran was now resorting to lies and deceits.

"Having failed at max pressure, Pompeo's turning to max deceit," Zarif wrote on his twitter page on Sunday.

"The US and its clients are stuck in Yemen because of illusion that weapon superiority will lead to military victory," Zarif added.

He noted that blaming Iran won't end disaster, saying that the US and the Saudi-led coalition should accept Iran's "April 15 proposal to end war and begin talks" to resolve the crisis in Yemen politically.

Also, on Wednesday, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani dismissed the US allegations of Tehran's involvement in the Saturday attacks on Saudi oil installations, warning of a crushing and powerful response to any aggression.

"The crisis in Yemen that Saudi Arabia's continued military aggression has prolonged for over 50 months has no military solution and can end only within the framework of Yemeni-Yemeni talks and without interference of third parties," Shamkhani said.

According to Fars News Agency, he described the Yemeni people's defense against foreign aggression and cruel massacre of the country's citizens as their legitimate and legal right and a natural reaction to aggressors' cruelties.

Shamkhani noted that the Yemeni army designs and builds its own weapons, and said blaming other countries for the Saturday attacks is just escaping ahead not to account for wasting resources to purchase advanced but ineffective military equipment from the Western states.

He underlined that Iran's strategic policy is decreasing tension, avoiding any clashes and resolving the regional crises through talks.

"Meantime, Iran monitors, with full preparedness, any intention and move for the purpose of aggression against the country or the interests of the Islamic Republic and will give a decisive and all-out response to possible mischiefs in the harshest way which can surprise the aggressors," Shamkhani said.

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