Meeting with Murtadha Abedin, Iran’s Chargés d'Affairesto
Yemen, was a unique experience.
The uniqueness of this meeting at the Iranian embassy
was not because Iran has always been portrayed by the Saudi-led coalition as
the usual suspect in Yemen, nor for the ongoing war of words between Tehran and
Riyadh over the definition of legitimate authority in Sana’a, nor for Iran’s
denial of providing arms to Ansar Allah (more commonly known as the Houthis).
The uniqueness was because, despite the public
perception, Iran’s top envoy in Sana’a was critical of the style of Ansar Allah
in dealing with journalists and media workers in Yemen.
Emphasizing on the important role of independent media
in covering war, before starting the interview, Abedin called on the Popular
Committees affiliated with the Ansar Allah movement to improve their relations
with media workers, especially freelance journalists who risk their lives to
report on what is happening in Yemen, even those writing against Ansar Allah.
Scores of Yemeni journalists and media workers have
lost their jobs under government pressure or are currently held hostage by
armed groups, including Ansar Allah, according to Reporters Without Borders.
“We stand by the people of Yemen and Ansar Allah
against any aggression, but we disagree with the movement over the case of
journalists, those people should be won over by dialogue and treated with
dignity and respect, because the current war is on the entire nation and the
national collaboration is needed to prevail in Yemen,” Abedin said.
What would be the implication of Iran’s recent nuclear
deal for Yemen? Are we going to see Iran sending military advisers to Yemen,
any time soon, to help Ansar Allah against the Saudi-led coalition?
Yemen is a strong country with the fighters who are
defending themselves in various fronts. Yemenis do not need any support, as the
country is renowned for its military stockpile and manpower, they do not need
weapons. We support the Yemeni people politically and,through the media, we
deliver their message to the world, to make the whole world understand a cruel
and grisly war is being waged on innocent people.
Our support is exclusively within a political framework;
we support Ansar Allah as a component of the Yemeni people, who all are
suffering in this war. Ansar Allah is defending Yemen against those aggressors
who kill children, women and the elderly.
As we are approaching the first
anniversary of this all-out war on Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition, some
analysts say that Iran’s nuclear deal was signed after Tehran secured another
deal with Riyadh. According to this belief, Iran didn’t get officially involved
in defending Yemen against the Saudi aggression because Yemen was already
traded in for Syria, which means Iran has to control Iraq and Syria while Saudi
Arabia can control Yemen. How would you respond to this?
The Islamic Republic of Iran does not want to settle a
dispute with a country at the expense of another one. Saudi Arabia is trying to
link the war on Yemen with the Syrian war. They try to settle accounts with
Yemen, and we know that the Saudis have interests in this country. But those
interests should not violate Yemen’s national interests.
When it comes to its foreign policy,Iran has certain
principles to pursue fervently. One of those principles is to not trade in a
country for another, and those who do such a thing are immoral.
Many people accuse Iran of hindering the political
process in Yemen, saying that Iran does not want the war to end, because it can
exhaust the Saudis’ resources, financially and militarily, which will lead to
its collapse. What is your reaction?
Everyone knows how this war started, who formed
a coalition of countries to launch attacks on Yemen, and who opened a
battlefront in the Yemeni-Saudi border.
If the Yemenis or more specifically Ansar Allah were
responsible for launching attacks on the Saudi border and opening a new front
line, then people were right to hold Iran accountable for instigating Ansar
Allah to attack the border and imposing a war of attrition on Saudi Arabia.
But the truth is that Saudi Arabia started this unjust
war against the Yemenis. What is happening in reality is the opposite of what
the Saudis wanted to do. They started the battlefront in Yemen in order to
defeat Bashar Al-Assad in Syria and weaken us politically and economically to
stop supporting Al-Assad in Syria. But
that didn’t happen.
I should assert to everyone that Iran has no military
presence in Yemen; therefore Saudi Arabia will not reach its goal. They will be
defeated in Yemen, not us.
We are sorry if Saudis are exhausting their
financial resources and power because of the war on Yemen and other countries,
but they brought this upon themselves. What they should have done is that their
resources should have been utilized against the true enemy of Islam and the
Muslims, which is the Zionist entity, not for fighting their brothers in
neighboring country.
The internationally-recognized government of Yemen and
the KSA are still claiming that Iran is smuggling weapons to Ansar Allah and
sending military advisors to Yemen to help the Houthis as well as the forces
loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Is that true?
We did not intervene in Yemen militarily and everyone
knows that. Despite those claims, there are no Iranian advisors or soldiers in
Yemen.If there is any Iranian military here in Yemen they have to prove it with
evidence.
Many people claim that the KSA is supporting ISIL (ISIS).
On the other hand, people in the gulf countries claim that the real supporter
of ISIL is Iran, because the extremist group doesn’t call for attacking Iran,
while it invites people to topple the Saudi regime. How would you respond?
ISIL is a Saudi comic play, and the world knows who is
supporting and funding it, ideologically, financially and sectarian-wise. They
made it; Saudi Wahhabis created ISIL.
As for the group’s threats against the KSA, I have to
say these are just lies for public consumption. There is no real ISIS threat
against the Saudi government, because the group is killing the people in Iraq
and Syria. As a fact, they only target those whom they view as enemies of the
KSA or Wahhabis.
And the reason why ISIS doesn’t pose a threat
against Iran, it is partly because of our national solidarity, which is
important for keeping a country safe and secure. But the other factors area
powerful Iranian armed forces as well as a prudent and wise administration in
charge of running the country.
http://www.yementimes.com
Σχόλια
Δημοσίευση σχολίου