Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take serious action to deal with problems facing the Muslim world, particularly the ongoing war in Yemen.
“The Organization of Islamic Cooperation should seriously address this important issue of the Muslim world and bring Yemeni groups to the [negotiating] table to end this disaster,” Zarif said in a meeting with OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani in Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait, on Tuesday.
Zarif expressed Iran’s firm determination to cooperate with the OIC, saying Tehran believes that the organization should be sensitive to developments in the Muslim world.
Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 without a United Nations mandate. The Saudi airstrikes aim to weaken the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which currently controls the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and major provinces, and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Saudi Arabia.
The UN says since March, nearly 2,000 people have been killed and 7,330 others injured due to the conflict in Yemen. However, according to Yemen's Freedom House Foundation, the Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of about 4,000 Yemeni people.
“Terrorism and extremism are common threats to the world and we should witness more serious measures to confront factors contributing to instability and insecurity in the region,” Zarif pointed out.
The OIC secretary general, for his part, praised Iran’s cooperation to help draw up the organization's plans, particularly for the next 10 years.
