Martin Griffith, the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, arrived in Tehran, the capital of Iran, on the 7th for his first visit to the country and will meet with Iranian officials on resolving the Yemeni crisis.
Griffiths will be conducting a two-day visit, according to a report on the same day by Iranian state television, “planning to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and other Iranian officials.”
Griffiths’ office said that the trip to Iran was intended to promote political efforts to resolve the Yemeni crisis.
His spokesman Ismini Parra said that Griffith had planned his visit to Iraq for some time.
U.S. President Joseph Biden delivered his first foreign policy speech after taking office on the 4th, announcing that the United States will no longer support Saudi Arabia-led multinational coalition military operations in Yemen, including the suspension of related arms sales plans.
Saudi Arabia reiterated its support for a political solution to the Yemeni crisis on the 5th.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the 6th that the U.S. statement was “a step towards correcting past mistakes”, but it could not “solve the Yemen issue alone”.
The new U.S. government is also preparing to revoke the previous government’s determination that Yemeni Houthis were listed as a terrorist organization on January 10.
Analysts worry that the inclusion of the Houthis as a terrorist organization will have a negative impact and hinder the international community’s humanitarian relief operation in Yemen and the United Nations-led peace process.
The Houthi armed forces in Yemen captured the capital Sana’a in 2014, and Saudi Arabia and other countries launched a military operation code-named “Decisive Storm” against the Houthi in 2015 to help the Yemeni government recover the lost territory.
In December 2018, through the mediation of the United Nations, the Yemeni government and the Houthis reached an agreement on many important issues, but the ceasefire agreement failed to continue.
In December 2020, the Yemeni government formed a coalition government with the Southern Transitional Council. At this point, most of southern Yemen has achieved nominal unity.
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