TEHRAN – The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Friday strongly denounced the latest Saudi air raids against Yemen, calling on the United Nations to stop Riyadh’s atrocities “by any means possible”.

The reaction by Iran came after Saudi fighter jets hit wedding parties in Yemen’s Hajjah and Jawf, killing and injuring more than 25 civilians, including women and children. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi expressed regret that the Saudi-led military forces are continuing their war crimes in Yemen “under the international community’s silence and indifference”.

He called on international human rights bodies to prevent the continuation of such crimes by the Saudi fighter jets against Yemen by any means possible. 

“The countries providing arms for the forces that have invaded Yemen, which have caused the slaughter of the Yemeni women and children by supplying them (aggressors) with destructive bombs and weapons, are accomplice in these crimes and must be held accountable for such support before the international community and the people of Yemen,” Press TV quoted the spokesman as saying.

“Such crimes continue while, unfortunately, the United Nations has recently removed the name of Saudi Arabia from the list of child-murdering regimes with the political pressure of the U.S. and the Saudi petrodollars,” he added.

Mousavi called on the UN to reconsider its decision, step up efforts for an immediate end to the Saudi attacks on Yemen, and take necessary measures and arrangements to protect the health and security of civilians, women and children in particular. 

The Yemeni Health Ministry initially said nine people had been killed in the Saudi air raids against al-Masafa al-Marazeeq area of the al-Hazm district of al-Jawf Province on Wednesday afternoon, but later raised the death toll to 24.

The strikes were the second such incident over the past week.

Ten people, mostly women and children, were killed on Sunday when Saudi military aircraft struck Washhah district in Yemen’s northwestern province of Hajjah, unnamed local sources told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network at the time.

In reaction to the attacks, United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths called for a transparent investigation into al-Jawf airstrikes.

“We deplore yesterday’s airstrikes in #AlJawf... A thorough & transparent investigation is required,” Griffiths wrote in a post on his official Twitter page on Thursday, describing attacks on civilians as reprehensible.