'Saudi War on Yemen Shows Riyadh's Political Defeat'

Fri Apr 24, 2015 2:0PM
presstv.ir

A senior Iranian cleric has denounced Saudi Arabia’s aggression against Yemen as a political defeat and humiliation for the Persian Gulf monarchy which "deems itself a Muslim state."

Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen was waged on the order of the United States so that the US could “sell more weapons,” Kazem Seddiqi said in a sermon to worshipers during the weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran.

He added that Saudi Arabia and some countries that are controlled by big powers have amassed huge oil money and are violating the sovereignty of a country which seeks to remain independent.

Seddiqi pointed to the killing of civilians, including women and children, in Yemen, saying that during its aggression against Yemen, Saudi Arabia has repeated the crimes committed by the Zionist regime, which he said, "were aimed at trampling on Muslims' rights, creating division," and fostering terrorist groups.

He added that Riyadh committed a war crime in neighboring Yemen by using unconventional weapons such as phosphorus bombs, adding that such acts would backfire on the regime in Riyadh and spell its doom.

Saudi Arabia launched its aerial campaign against Yemen on March 26 - without a United Nations mandate - in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

On April 21, Riyadh announced the end of the first phase of its unlawful military operation, which claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 people in 27 days. However, airstrikes have continued with Saudi bombers targeting different areas across the country.

The Saudi aggression against Yemen has claimed the lives of more than 100 children over the past month, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).