Ex-Iranian FM:

Sweden Peace Talks Victory of Resistance Movement in Yemen

TEHRAN (defapress)- Former Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Kamal Kharrazi voiced his satisfaction in the outcome of the recent peace talks held in Sweden by Yemen's warring sides, and said that it was a victory of that country's popular resistance movement.

News ID: 74518

Date: 23 December 2018 - 15:28

"Acceptance of the peace talks by Saudi Arabia is in itself a victory point for Ansarullah resistance movement," Kharrazi, also head of Iran's Foreign Policy Strategic Council, said.

"We hope that the agreements reached during the talks in Sweden would continue to preserve, and it will be the Yemeni people who will make the final decision on the future of their own country," he added.

Kharrazi underlined that Iran's diplomatic apparatus is seeking ways to support the Yemeni people and guarantee the realization of their demands.

Last Thursday, Ansarullah movement and representatives of the former Yemeni government agreed during UN-brokered talks in Sweden to a truce in Yemen’s Western province of Hudaydah.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed more than 20,000 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children. Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with more than 22 million people in need and is seeing a spike in needs, fueled by ongoing conflict, a collapsing economy and diminished social services and livelihoods. The blockade on Yemen has smothered humanitarian deliveries of food and medicine to the import-dependent state.

The UN has repeatedly criticized the Saudi-UAE-led military coalition's bombing campaign and placed it on a blacklist of child rights violators last year.

A UN panel has also compiled a detailed report of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military and its allies during their war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led coalition has used precision-guided munitions in its raids on civilian targets.

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