Iranian Defense Minister condemned Saudi Arabia for bombing a mourning ceremony in Yemen which killed over 200 civilians, saying that the Saudi rulers should stand trial for their war crimes.
“The fanatic, arrogant and aggressive al-Saud regime has committed an unforgivable crime in their continued savage acts against the oppressed and defenseless Yemeni people and this measure should not remain unanswered by the world governments and nations and anyone who keeps silent over this savage act is an accomplice in al-Saud’s crime,” Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said on Sunday.
He described the Saudi rulers as war criminals, and called for their rapid trial and punishment.
In relevant remarks today, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani blasted Saudi Arabia for pounding a mourning ceremony in Sana’a, and said the US which supplies Riyadh with weapons should account for the death of the Yemeni civilians.
“Saudi Arabia’s bombing of the mourning ceremony in Yemen has been carried out by the weapons sent and supplied by the US to the aggressive Saudi army and the US is an accomplice to this crime and should account for it,” Shamkhani said.
Stressing that the public opinion in the West should be aware of their governments’ role in the Yemen war, he said, “Selling arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE plays a pivotal role in the military aggression against Yemen and the massacre of the innocent Yemeni people, which should be stopped.”
Shamkhani also referred to the Saturday destruction of an Emirati warship in the waters near Bab al-Mandab Strait by the Yemeni army and popular forces, and said that the Yemenis defended their sovereignty and territorial integrity against an aggressor.
Reports from Yemen’s capital said on Saturday that over 700 people were killed or wounded in massive air raids by the Saudi-led coalition warplanes.
The airstrikes targeted a hall where people were paying their last respects to the father of Yemen’s Interior Minister Jalal Al-Rouyshan who is also the chief of staff of former President Ali Abdullah Salih.
A second strike hit exactly the same region as people rushed to aid those injured in the first round of air assault.
Yemen has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh. Saudi soldiers
The Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign against Iran-backed Houthi militias in March 2015. It sides with the President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while the Houthis are aligned with ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted after Yemen revolution in 2012. Saudi Arabia
