Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on Saturday that there is no military solution to the escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen after both sides exchanged attacks.
“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”.
He maintained that the situation in Yemen “cannot be attributed to Iran” and explained that the incidents taking place in the Bab al-Mandab Strait area were “rooted in old disputes and issues between Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the countries of the region”.
Hostilities between the Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, which had largely remained frozen since a United Nations-negotiated truce in 2022, intensified this month after the Tehran-backed rebels announced a blockade of Saudi ports and claimed responsibility for attacks on tankers.
The blockade has endangered Saudi Arabia’s capacity to export its supplies to global markets following Iran’s concurrent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which serves as the kingdom’s only alternative maritime route.
On Friday, a Houthi spokesman clarified that the rebels were not obstructing traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and that the maritime blockade “only affects the Saudi side”.
