UNIPATH STAFF
In violation of United Nations arms embargo, Iran continued to engage in destabilization campaigns against Yemen by fueling the ongoing civil war with arms and training for the Houthi rebels.
During a joint press conference in Riyadh between Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir and then-U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook in June 2020, Al-Jubeir urged the international community to extend the embargo and demanded that Iran be prevented from exporting weapons and supporting terrorism.
Since the war began, Houthi militia have conducted 1,659 attacks on civilians in Saudi Arabia and launched 318 ballistic missiles and 371 Iranian-made drones against Saudi towns and villages, Al-Jubeir said. In addition, 64 unmanned surface vessels were sent to block shipping lanes in the Bab el-Mandeb strait and Red Sea.
The Saudis displayed dozens of weapons that originated in Iran — the remains of missiles and drones, assault rifles, bombs and other military hardware.
It has been over five years since the Yemeni war broke out over Houthi resistance to the legitimately elected government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Saudi Arabia formed the Arab Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen to defend the sovereignty of its neighbor.
Saudi Arabia has striven to end the conflict by negotiating a political compromise, but those efforts have been resisted by the Houthi and their Iranian backers. The Arab coalition even imposed a unilateral cease-fire in hopes of gaining concessions from the rebels. But Iran continued to arm, train and finance forces of division and intolerance in Yemen. Sources: Almowaten.net, CNN