Diplomacy could resolve Iran conflict, save Yemen

It was President Dwight Eisenhower who said, “People want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.”

Neither the American nor Iranian people want a war. We want peace. The way to achieve it is a return to diplomacy.

The Trump administration should immediately reinstate the Iran nuclear deal, a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran that Trump has rashly treated like a failure.

A return to diplomacy with Iran would have other benefits, too. It could help end the civil war in Yemen, which has pulled in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which relies on arms supplied by the U.S. and supports the government against the Iran-backed

Houthi rebels. The conflict has destabilized the region. A diplomatic approach to Iran could help limit the involvement of Iran and the U.S. in the Yemeni civil war, which has left more than 20 million Yemenis in desperate need of food.

Years of fighting have destroyed food production and distribution. Children in Yemen are in agony, wasting away from malnutrition. Lack of food for small children causes lasting physical and mental damage or death. We must seek an end to

Yemen’s war and its people’s hunger.

But by arming the Saudis, Trump has prolonged the conflict and put Yemen on the brink of famine. U.S. military aid to the Saudis must cease. As David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, says, we “should be shepherding warring parties to peace — not fueling the conflict.”

While diplomacy would pave the way toward peace, more is needed in Yemen. There must also be funding for food aid to the starving Yemenis. The U.N. World Food Program and other relief agencies are the lifeline for Yemen.

“Our food assistance has saved many children, women and men from the brink. But they’re not safe yet. Support for Yemen must continue,” said Laurent Bukera, who leads the World Food Program in Yemen. “Yemen needs peace — a lasting peace that will allow the country to rebuild.”

We need to step up the food aid to prevent reductions in programs such as nutrition for Yemeni infants and school feeding. WFP says these programs are urgent for Yemen’s children as “this is the generation that Yemen will rely on to rebuild when the devastating conflict comes to an end. It is essential that they are able to realize their full potential.”

The Middle East needs food instead of bombs. America could help by increasing its support for the Food for Peace program started by Eisenhower.

Small children are starving to death in Yemen as the war continues, yet the United States has not pressed for peace. The U.S. must be a peacemaker and get the warring sides to the negotiating table.

The first step is to get a nationwide cease-fire in Yemen to ensure food aid for everyone in need.

“We are calling for unlimited access by aid organizations to all parts of the country so that all children can receive the support they so desperately need,” pleads Tamer

Kirolos, director of Save the Children in Yemen.

Following a cease-fire, America must work to achieve a lasting peace treaty in Yemen. For that to happen, the U.S. must bring back diplomacy to prevent war with Iran and end current hostilities in the Middle East. Only then will the millions now at risk of starvation have a brighter future.

Lambers is an author who partnered with the U.N. World Food Program and Catholic Relief Services on the book Ending World Hunger.