The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Brigadier General Esmaeil Qaani, has demanded that Saudi Arabia immediately lift its nearly 12-year-long blockade on Yemen, advising Riyadh to draw critical lessons from what he characterized as Washington’s “unwise and costly” military miscalculations.
In a statement released late on Saturday, General Qaani urged the Saudi government to reconsider its approach toward a Muslim nation of more than 38 million people, asserting that the prolonged siege has inflicted immense suffering on the Yemeni populace. He emphasized that Muslims worldwide expect Saudi Arabia, as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to leverage its influence and resources in support of the Palestinian people against Israeli atrocities, rather than directing acts of aggression and pressure against a “downtrodden Muslim nation.”
The Quds Force chief further drew a sharp contrast between regional priorities, underscoring that efforts to save the oppressed Palestinians in the besieged and war-ravaged Gaza Strip represent a “source of honor.” He contrasted this with what he described as the futility of maintaining a siege against the resilient Yemeni nation, which has withstood years of military campaigns.
Background to the conflict dates back to March 26, 2015, when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a comprehensive military intervention and blockade in Yemen. The campaign, which received military, political, and logistical backing from the United States and several Western nations, has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Yemenis. Despite years of intensive strikes, the coalition has persistently failed to achieve its primary objective of reinstating Yemen’s previous regime, which was aligned with Riyadh.
Following a tenuous UN-brokered ceasefire in 2022, the geopolitical landscape shifted as the United States, Britain, and the Israeli regime launched extensive assaults on Yemen. According to the IRGC commander’s framing, these attacks were aimed at undermining Sana’a’s capacity to conduct solidarity strikes against Israeli targets strikes that Yemeni forces have carried out in retaliation for Tel Aviv’s ongoing war of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Iranian media (edite dby Al-Manar)