Yemen's Hadi accuses Saleh of conspiring with Iran

Yemeni President Abed Rabbuh Mansour Hadi yesterday accused his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh of conspiring with Iran in cooperation with Shia Houthi rebels to thwart a deal backed by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to transfer power to him in 2011.

Hadi, who assumed power in 2012, resigned and fled to the city of Aden after Houthi rebels put him and his government ministers under house arrest in the capital Sanaa.

Sources said Hadi accused former President Saleh of sending a delegation of Yemeni parliamentarians to Iran after it promised to derail the GCC backed power transfer deal.

Adding that Hadi said that an alliance between Saleh and Shia Houthi rebels in coordination with Iran was behind the fall of the capital Sanaa on 21 September 2014, and that now the historic city has become a capital under occupation.

Last year, the UN Security Council accused Saleh of working with Houthis to destabilise Yemen, demanding sanctions be placed on him and two senior Shia leaders for threatening peace and stability in the country.

Saleh denies all charges against him.

On Saturday, the Houthis signed a civil aviation deal with Iran.

The state-run Yemeni news agency SABA, which is controlled by the Houthis, said that 14 flights will operate every week between the two countries.

The agency added that the first flight arrived in Sanaa on Sunday and that an economic delegation headed by senior Houthi leaders headed to Tehran to discuss mutual cooperation between the two countries.

Meanwhile, an official source affiliated with the power in Aden said the agreement signed between the Yemeni Aviation Authority and its Iranian counterpart is unbinding for Yemen because it was signed by persons who have no legal or constitutional legitimacy.

The source condemned in a statement the agreement saying it comes as part of the Iranian support to Houthi groups to turn against constitutional legitimacy.