TEHRAN – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Gholam-Hossein Dehghani has strongly criticized Washington’s illegal sanctions against Yemen, saying the sanctions block the delivery of humanitarian aid to the war-torn country.

“The U.S.’s illegal sanctions not only inflict great suffering on ordinary people, but they also block the delivery of humanitarian aid by other countries to the Yemeni people,” Dehghani said, according to Mehr.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. 

He urged the United Nations to adopt a more decisive approach against the perpetrators of the Yemeni crisis, and to make every effort to end the humanitarian crisis that has caused great suffering for the Yemenis.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the former Riyadh-friendly government back to power and crushing Ansarullah.

The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 91,000 lives over the past four and a half years.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

MH/PA