Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.17
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon to end Saudi Arabia's violence in Yemen.
In a telephone conversation, Zarif urged Ban-Ki Moon to take measures to stop Saudi Arabia's attacks to Yemen infrastructures as soon as possible and send aids to the defenseless people in Yemen, Iran's ISNA news agency reported April 17.
Zarif also voiced Iran's readiness to help resolve the crisis in Yemen.
The UN secretary general, for his part, appreciated Iranian efforts toward peaceful settlement of the crisis, reiterating the need to dispatch food and medical aids to the Yemeni people.
Iran's foreign minister has laid out a four-point Yemen peace plan including dialogue and humanitarian aid, and renewed his call for an end to Saudi-led air strikes against the Houthi rebel force allied to Tehran.
The proposal is likely to anger Saudi Arabia and other powers which accuse Iran of arming the Houthis and interfering in Yemeni affairs. Tehran denies giving military support to the Houthis.
"This issue should be resolved by the Yemenis... Iran and Saudi Arabia need to talk but we cannot talk to determine the future of Yemen," he said at a conference in Madrid.
Zarif also said the air strikes "are simply not the answer... All operations should end on land and from the air."
Edited by CN