TEHRAN, IRAN – Iran on Wednesday welcomed a US call to help end the long-running conflict in Yemen by backing a peace process, one year after a United Nations-brokered truce dramatically reduced fighting.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict have multiplied since the Yemeni government’s main foreign backer Saudi Arabia signed a Chinese-brokered deal to restore relations with Iran last month.
US special envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking said Tuesday that Washington “would like to see the Iranians show support for the political process that we hope is coming”.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani described the envoy’s call as “gratifying”, stressing that Tehran had been “striving for a peace process since the beginning of the war”.
Sunday marked the first anniversary of the UN-brokered truce between the Yemeni government and the Iran-backed rebels, who control the capital Sanaa and most of the north.
UN Yemen envoy Hans Grundberg described it as a “moment of hope” as the truce was largely holding despite lapsing in October.
US President Joe Biden took office promising a greater priority on ending the devastating conflict, after his predecessor Donald Trump’s backing for the Saudi-led military intervention in support of the government.
Nearly a decade of war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, both directly and indirectly, and triggered what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.