Agreement between Hadi, separatists not to help solve Yemen’s crisis

Signing such documents will by no means help settle the problems of Yemen,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said on Wednesday.

“It will contribute to the stabilization of occupation of southern Yemen by Saudi Arabia and its allies, directly or through their proxy forces,” he added.

The statement came after Yemen's resigned government and the UAE-backed separatists signed a deal on sharing power in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has described the so-called "Riyadh Agreement" as a crucial step towards a political solution to end Yemen's war.

Mousavi reiterated Iran’s support for establishing a comprehensive and unified legal government in Yemen through intra-Yemeni peace talks to end more than five years of a bloody Riyadh-led war on the impoverished country.

“The vigilant Yemeni people have always resisted against the occupiers, and they will never allow their enemies and ill-wishers to bring the south of that country under the control and occupation of the foreign forces

Mousavi said that if the Saudis are seriously seeking to help solve Yemen’s crisis, they should stop signing deals with unauthorized groups in the country. They should, instead, accept the proposal by the Ansarullah’s president of the Supreme Political Council in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, Mahdi al-Mashat.

The proposal, announced in September, says the Ansarullah will stop launching retaliatory missile and drone attacks against positions inside Saudi Arabia if the Saudi-led military coalition reciprocates the initiative in kind.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Manour Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The war has claimed close to 100,000 lives over the past four and a half years.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

MNA/4765130