Iran blames US for crimes against humanity in Yemen
THE U.S. is responsible for crimes against humanity regarding Iran and Yemen, Iran’s Foreign Minister said Thursday. “You know what @SecPompeo? It’s the Yemenis themselves who’re responsible for famine they’re facing. They should’ve simply allowed your butcher clients—who spend billions on bombing school buses & “millions to mitigate this risk” to annihilate them w/o resisting. #Have You No Shame ,” Iranian FM Javad Zarif said on Twitter.
On Oct. 30, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for the cessation of hostilities in Yemen. He said in a statement that missile and drone strikes by Iran-allied Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should stop and air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition must cease in all populated areas of Yemen.
“Just as with Yemen, @SecPompeo blames Iran for unlawful U.S. sanctions preventing Iranians’ access to financial services for food and medicine. Naturally, we will provide them for our people in spite of U.S. efforts. But US is accountable for crimes against humanity re Iran & Yemen,” Zarif said.
The United Nations Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths is aiming to convene the country’s warring parties for peace talks by the end of the year, a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday, after last week saying he would try to bring them together by the end of the month. Yemen has been wracked by conflict since 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the former defense minister, and Saudi Arabia’s allies launched Operation Decisive Storm in March 2015. Riyadh has accused the Houthi rebel group of serving as a proxy force for Iran, Saudi Arabia’s arch foe in the region.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict, which has killed over 10,000 people and sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. In September, the Saudi- led coalition admitted that mistakes were made in an August airstrike that killed 40 children, an event considered an apparent war crime by the U.N. human rights body. Saudi Arabia’s alleged human rights violations are not limited to that country but have expanded beyond its borders, since there is an endless war in Yemen. The U.S. has made a call to end the war, but there was no reference to the future of its arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Aid groups warned of the plight of civilians in Yemen’s contested Hodeida where casualties are mounting as a Saudi-led coalition is fighting to take the port city from the country’s Shiite rebels.