No military solution to Yemen conflict, Iran FM says

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

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Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday there was no military solution to the escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen after both sides traded attacks.

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“We believe that there is no military solution to the issue of Yemen, Bab al-Mandab, and other regional issues,” said Araghchi in an interview published on Saturday by the state-run Iran Daily newspaper, calling for “dialogue”.

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He said the situation in Yemen “cannot be attributed to Iran” and that the incidents occurring in the area of the Bab al-Mandab Strait were “rooted in old disputes and issues between Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the countries of the region”.

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Renewed conflict between the Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia — which had largely been frozen since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022 — flared up this month with the Tehran-backed rebels declaring a blockade of Saudi ports and claiming attacks on tankers.

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The blockade has threatened Saudi Arabia’s ability to get its supplies to the world following Iran’s parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the kingdom’s only other maritime route.

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On Friday, a Houthi spokesman said the rebels were not blocking traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and that the maritime blockade “only affects the Saudi side”.

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AFP

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