Iran foreign minister says Yemen conflict has no military solution

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said there was no military solution to the escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, after both sides traded attacks.

In an interview published by the state-run Iran Daily newspaper, Araghchi called for dialogue. He said Iran believed there was no military solution to Yemen, Bab al-Mandab and other regional issues.

Araghchi said the situation in Yemen could not be attributed to Iran. He said incidents around the Bab al-Mandab Strait were rooted in old disputes and issues between Yemen, Saudi Arabia and countries in the region.

The source says renewed conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia had been largely frozen since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022, but flared this month. The Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi ports and claimed attacks on tankers.

The source says the blockade has threatened Saudi Arabia's ability to move supplies to the world after Iran's parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, described as the kingdom's only other maritime route.

On Friday, a Houthi spokesman said the rebels were not blocking traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and that the maritime blockade affected only the Saudi side.