Iran to UN: US Strikes Thwart Regional Political Solution

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, expressed concerns to the United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, regarding the impact of recent US military actions in the Middle East on achieving a political resolution in the region. This conversation, reported by Iran’s state-run news agency, occurred amid the US’s confirmation of fresh strikes on Houthi targets, following a series of joint US-UK airstrikes on the Iran-backed group in Yemen the previous month.

During their discussion in Tehran, Amir-Abdollahian criticized the US’s recent military actions and its designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group, arguing that these moves have only served to complicate and hinder efforts towards a political solution, according to the state news agency IRNA. He further labeled the US strikes as an extension of Washington’s misguided and unsuccessful strategy of using force and militarism to resolve conflicts.

It’s important to note that the US also carried out significant airstrikes on 85 sites across seven locations in Iraq and Syria. This military action was in response to a drone strike in Jordan that resulted in the deaths of three American soldiers. While the strikes in Yemen are primarily a reaction to Houthi assaults on international shipping and US warships in the Red Sea, the attacks in Iraq and Syria are retaliatory measures for the fatal attack on US troops. Both sets of strikes are aimed at groups in the Middle East that are backed by Iran.