Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Shaya Zindani accused the Iran-backed Houthi militias of obstructing the efforts of United Nations envoy Hans Grundberg to achieve peace in the country.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, he said the militants were seeking to stoke chaos in Yemen, while the peace process is effectively frozen because Iran is pushing the Houthis to reject peace and prolong the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, as part of the government, we do not sense that the Houthis have a desire to achieve peace and end the war. They live for war,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The legitimate government \u201chas agreed to all initiatives that have been presented by friends and brothers, but the Houthis have not been receptive to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
He blamed Iran for encouraging the Houthis to maintain their intransigence.<\/p>\n
On reports about an attempt on Grundberg\u2019s life, Zindani said: \u201cThere are efforts to thwart his work and plunge us in chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n
This all benefits the Houthis, he went on to say. \u201cWe, on the other hand, believe that the envoy represents the voice of international legitimacy and UN Security Council resolutions. It is in our interest to support him despite his shortcomings in some areas,\u201d the minister stated.<\/p>\n
Asked if the Security Council was preparing a resolution on Yemen, he replied that he had no information about that yet. He acknowledged, however, that some parties are starting to believe that resolution 2216 was no longer applicable.<\/p>\n
Media sources have said that the US and Britian were seeking to issue two Security Council resolutions on Yemen in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
Minister Zindani remarked that based on his experience, resolutions are rarely amended; rather, new ones are adopted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government, in line with international, regional and national legitimacy, is showing openness and being reasonable with all efforts aimed at resolving Yemen\u2019s plight,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
The new resolutions, he said, will likely complement resolution 2216 and take measures against the Houthis because they have ignored other resolutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Houthis don\u2019t believe in peace or national partnership; they don\u2019t even have a political platform,\u201d he charged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are a close-minded group that operates according to its sectarian ideology, and it believes it has the right to rule the Yemeni people,\u201d the FM told Asharq Al-Awsat.<\/p>\n
The military option against the Houthis will \u201calways remain on the table\u201d as long as Yemen continues to be threatened, he added.<\/p>\n
Arms smuggling<\/p>\n
On Iran\u2019s role in Yemen, Minister Zindani lamented that the international community \u201chad not seriously dealt with the issue of arms smuggling to the Houthis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Security Council resolutions have been clear about this, but not a single measure has been taken since 2016, he noted.<\/p>\n
This has allowed Iran to deliver drones, ballistic missiles and even hypersonic missiles to the Houthis, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne can smuggle a rifle undetected, but sending rockets and drones without detection is suspicious,\u201d Zindani said.<\/p>\n
He said that some form of leniency in dealing with this issue allowed Iran to continue to support the Houthis.<\/p>\n
\u201cShould Iran fail in changing its policies and outlook and agree to establishing good ties with its neighbors and concern itself with its own people, then it will continue to meddle with Yemen\u2019s internal affairs, which will only harm it and countries in the region,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n
On the recent seizure weapons off the coast of Aden, he said the government \u201cwill not stand idle.\u201d It will uncover the source of these weapons and act on the diplomatic level as soon as it has evidence.<\/p>\n
Reports have said that authorities busted a shipment of drones and advanced equipment from China.<\/p>\n
The FM said Yemen and China enjoy \u201chistoric and close ties\u201d and that his country will bring up the issue with it should it receive any confirmed information related to the shipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that it isn\u2019t easy for any company to export military gear without the knowledge of the Chinese government,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are keen on our relations with Beijing and we will bring up this issue with our friends there if we receive any evidence that connects the shipment to China,\u201d Zindani said, revealing that the issue was already brought up with Chinese Charge d\u2019Affaires.<\/p>\n
On relations with Saudi Arabia, the FM said the Kingdom is Yemen\u2019s main backer. Its support extends to all Yemeni sectors, such as development, reconstruction and humanitarian work through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.<\/p>\n
He also noted Saudi Arabia\u2019s ongoing financial deposits and grants, stressing that the Kingdom is a \u201cpriority in our foreign policy. We are keen on excellent ties we share with it and we constantly aspire to coordinate our efforts on the international arena.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Shaya Zindani accused the Iran-backed Houthi militias of obstructing the efforts of United Nations envoy Hans Grundberg to achieve peace in the country. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, he said the militants were seeking to stoke chaos in Yemen, while the peace process is effectively frozen because Iran is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[74,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-breaking-news","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1165671.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33603,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33602\/revisions\/33603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}