Iran supports UN towards ending Yemen war

Iran supports "any effective role" of the United Nations towards ending the conflict in Yemen, its foreign minister said Monday after meeting the UN envoy to the war-torn country in Tehran.

Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen, has been in Tehran since Sunday to meet with Iranian officials as part of "efforts to support a political solution" to the conflict in the impoverished Arab nation, according to a statement from his office.

Iran has backed the Houthi rebels during the six-year-old war against Yemen's internationally recognised government, supported since 2015 by a military coalition led by Tehran-rival Saudi Arabia.

Iran rejects accusations that it has supplied the Houthis with weapons.

During meetings with Griffiths, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed the "full readiness" of his country "to support any effective role of the United Nations in resolving the crisis".

He underscored the "very difficult conditions resulting from the war and the economic blockade imposed on the Yemeni people", according to a ministry statement.

"The only solution to the Yemen crisis is through politics and not through imposed war," he added.

Yemen's grinding conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, triggering what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

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