Yemen’s foreign minister accused Iran on Sunday of driving the Houthi movement to reject peace initiatives and prolong the country’s decade-long conflict, Asharq al-Awsat reported.
Shaye al-Zandani said the peace process was “almost frozen” because Tehran encouraged the Houthis to resist compromise.
“The Houthis do not show a desire for peace because they live on war,” he told the Saudi-owned newspaper, adding that “Iran’s role is very large in keeping them entrenched in these positions.”
The minister also said the United Nations Security Council was discussing new measures on Yemen, adding that some states believe Resolution 2216 – the main international framework for the conflict – is no longer workable.
In 2015, the UN Security Council adopted the resolution, imposing sanctions on people undermining Yemen’s stability and calling on all parties, especially the Houthis, to end violence.
Any new resolutions would likely complement it with steps “focused on unified measures against the Houthis,” he said.
Al-Zandani added that the international community had not dealt “seriously enough” with Iranian arms transfers, which he said had enabled the Houthis to acquire drones, ballistic missiles and even hypersonic weapons.
“Unless Iran changes its policies and accepts good neighborly relations, its continued interference in Yemen is not in its interest or the region’s,” he said.
Last week, US ambassador to the United Nations, Dorothy Shea, condemned Iran for the Houthi rebels’ continued attacks on civilian cargo vessels in the Red Sea during the UN Security Council briefing on Yemen.
“Iran’s defiance of this Council’s resolutions enables the Houthis to escalate regional tensions. Iran’s continued support for the Houthis also poses a threat to the people of Yemen and to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” she told the council.
“In that regard, the United States commends Yemeni government-aligned forces for their July seizure of at least 750 tons of Iranian weapons bound for the Houthis. We urge the UN Secretariat to facilitate an inspection of that seizure by the Yemen Panel of Experts as soon as possible.”
The Iran-backed group, which controls around two thirds of Yemen's population in one third of the country, began a maritime blockade in the Red Sea in November 2023, following a call by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a show of allegiance to Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
