US diplomat accuses Iran of stoking regional conflicts
US Ambassador to Yemen Matthew Tueller vows to defend American interests in the region
from assault rifles up to the ballistic missiles.
“We see Iran as one of the major forces that is trying to foster instability,” Tueller said. “Step back for a moment and look at what we have in Yemen. We have a non-state actor, a militia, that has overthrown the government, and yet it is receiving arms, equipment and a support from a state, Iran.”
After the Houthi takeover of Sanaa, the US Embassy closed, sending Tueller and other diplomats to work out of neighboring Saudi Arabia. The diplomat from Provo, Utah, returned Thursday on a US military cargo plane to an Emirati military base near Mukalla. There, Tueller met Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al-Jaber, who wholeheartedly agreed with his assessment on Iran.
“Iran creates chaos in the region, it creates chaos everywhere, in Iraq, Bahrain, Syria, in Lebanon through Hezbollah, and in Yemen,” Al-Jaber said. “Iran has no place in the Arabian Peninsula, it only creates chaos and terrorism everywhere. I don’t think those who are capable of such acts are capable of peace.”
Tueller stressed the need to end Yemen’s war in a way that “restores government control of institutions.”
“The solution lies in the parties coming together and finding a way to peacefully share power,” he said.
However, such talks have yet to offer anything tangible.
Meanwhile, the Arab coalition continues its push on the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.
President Barrack Obama appointed Tueller as ambassador to Yemen. However, Tueller offered an explanation of America’s interests in the Mideast that sounded right on target with Trump’s while speaking with the AP.
“It’s an area of the world so important to all of us because of the critical oil and gas resources that are here, because of the potential for conflict here and we do not want to see conflict here,” he said.
“And yet Iran, obviously, wherever we see them acting, they’re acting not in a way to promote stability, but actually to exploit instability.”