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Yemen cuts diplomatic relations with Iran

October 3, 2015 at 11:00 am

Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyad Yassin has announced that his government has broken-off diplomatic relations with Iran, media reports claimed on Friday.

Yassin said that his country should have ended its relations with Iran a long time ago. He accused its embassy in Sana’a of offering all kinds of aid to the “anti-legitimacy rebels”, noting that it has been an “operation point” for the Houthis.

This news came just days after the speech by President Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi at the UN General Assembly. The Yemeni leader accused Iran of seeking to destroy his country.

“We are involved in the battle of defending the country and its legitimacy in order not to fall in the hands of Iran, which has big ambitions, including the control of Bab-el-Mandeb Strait,” the president told the gathering of world leaders in New York.

Hadi blamed the Houthis, who have been supported by Iran, for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. “You might know the size of the humanitarian tragedy and the suffering of my people under the siege of the oppressive militia, which is continuous in destroying the country.”

The breaking-off of diplomatic relations with Iran came 24 hours after Bahrain gave Iranian officials 72 hours to leave the Gulf country.