TEHRAN - Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday asked his U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo that “have you no shame” for the Saudi starvation of the Yemeni people.

The comments by Zarif came after Pompeo had told BBC Persian that “the Saudis have provided millions and millions of dollars of humanitarian relief” for Yemenis.

Provided heavy weaponry by the United States, Saudi Arabia along with the United Arab Emirates have been pounding Yemen since March 2015 and pushed the country toward starvation. 

Yemeni children vent anger against Riyadh and Washington as they take part in a mass funeral for the 40 children killed in an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition on August 9. Photograph: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images

In a briefing to the Security Council on October 23, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock said around 14 million people in Yemen, or half the total population of the country, are facing “pre-famine conditions”.

Sarcastically addressing Pompeo, Zarif said it is the Yemeni themselves who are responsible for their famine. Ironically, the foreign minister went on to say that the Yemenis should have allowed the United States’ “butcher clients” to annihilate Yemen without any resistance. 

“It's the Yemenis themselves who're responsible for famine they're facing. They should've simply allowed your butcher clients—who spend billions on bombing school buses & "millions to mitigate this risk"--to annihilate them w/o resisting. #HaveYouNoShame,” Zarif tweeted.

You know what @SecPompeo? It's the Yemenis themselves who're responsible for famine they're facing. They should've simply allowed your butcher clients—who spend billions on bombing school buses & "millions to mitigate this risk"--to annihilate them w/o resisting. #HaveYouNoShame

Javad Zarif (@jzarif) 8 Nov 2018. 

According to Al-Jazeera, the World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley told reporters at a closed briefing during the UN General Assembly in New York in September that "Yemen is undeniably the world's worst humanitarian crisis by far."

Beasley said, "Yemen is a disaster and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel right now."

The bomb dropped on a school bus in Yemen on August 9 by a Saudi-led coalition warplane was sold to Riyadh by the U.S., according to reports based on analysis of the debris, The Guardian reported on August 19.

The attack killed 40 boys aged from six to 11 who were being taken on a school trip. Eleven adults also died. 

CNN reported that the weapon used was a 227kg laser-guided bomb made by Lockheed Martin, one of many thousands sold to Saudi Arabia as part of billions of dollars of weapons exports.

Saudi Arabia is the biggest single customer for both the U.S. and UK arms industries. The U.S. also supports the coalition with refueling and intelligence.

PA/PA