Recent strikes by the US military in the Middle East make it difficult to reach a political solution in the region, Iran’s foreign minister told the United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen on Saturday, according to Iran’s state-run news agency.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the comments prior to US officials confirming the latest strikes Saturday on Huthi targets. The attacks follow multiple joint US-UK airstrikes on the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen last month.
During their meeting in Tehran, Amir-Abdollahian told Special Envoy Hans Grundberg that the US strikes and its decision to designate the Huthis as a terrorist organization have “complicated the situation and made it more difficult to reach a political solution,” the state news agency, IRNA, reported.
Amir-Abdollahian also called US strikes “the continuation of Washington’s wrong and failed approach to resolve issues by force and through militarism,” IRNA reported.
Remember: The US also conducted major airstrikes on 85 targets across seven locations in Iraq and Syria on Friday in response to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three American soldiers.
The strikes in Yemen are distinct from the attacks in Iraq and Syria: The former is a response to ongoing Huthi attacks on international shipping and US warships in the Red Sea, while the latter is a retaliation for the deadly attack on US troops. But both target Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East.
