TEHRAN — A senior foreign policy advisor to the Iranian Parliament speaker has said that Saudi Arabia thought it could defeat the Houthis in Yemen in just three weeks but has failed to reach its goal in nearly six years.

In remarks on Friday, Hossein Amir Abdollahian pointed to his meeting as deputy foreign minister with then-Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in the early days of the Yemen war, saying, “Al-Jubeir emphasized in that meeting that they will annihilate the Houthis in northern Yemen in less than three weeks.”

“But today, we are on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the American, British, Israeli, Saudi and Emirati aggression against Yemen,” Amir Abdollahian said, adding that the aggressors are desperately seeking to exit Yemen, IRNA reported.

He made the remarks at the 5th International Conference of Mujahedeen in Exile, held at Art Bureau of Islamic Revolution.

Foreign policy advisor to the parliament speaker says, “If they (Americans) do not end their presence today, tomorrow will be late and they will sustain serious damage in the region.” 

He explained that not only the Americans but also the British who used to play a strategic role in Yemen have faced many problems when faced with the people and resistance of Yemeni people.

The war on Yemen by Saudi Arabia and its allies was launched in March 2015. The goal of the war was to return to power the Riyadh-backed former regime of Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi and defeat the Houthi Ansarullah movement that took control after the resignation of the previous government.

Amir-Abdollahian also said one of the characteristics of today’s world is that the U.S. is no longer an empire to create its desired world order because it is facing many problems at home and abroad.

Today’s global actors are no longer the former Soviet Union and the U.S., rather there are numerous actors across the world today, the veteran diplomat pointed out.

“Today, Lebanon’s Hezbollah has the most influential role in the region in regulating political, international, regional and global arrangements, and Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Palestine also play the most influential role in disrupting the Zionists’ equations for dominance over the region,” he remarked.

Pointing out that the Palestinian resistance was able to play a major role in undermining the aspirations of the Zionists in the world and in West Asia, Amir Abdollahian said, “Today in Yemen we see that with more than five years of resistance by men, women and resolved youth, they are looking for an honorable escape from the area.”

“Today, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are not the real actors in global developments, but the actors are those who change the equation,” the advisor opined.

“I know the Al Khalifah family closely. They need to mend their relationship with their nation,” Amir Abdollahian says

Referring to the U.S. assassination of Iran’s top anti-terror general Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), in Baghdad’s international airport on January 3, Amir Abdollahian asserted that the Americans must leave the region.

“If they do not end their presence today, tomorrow will be late and they will sustain serious damage in the region,” he warned.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the former diplomat advised the Bahraini rulers to mend their relationship with their people instead of normalizing ties with Israel which will bring them nothing but downfall.

Bahrainis have been struggling for equal rights since the Arab Spring started. However, the ruling family, instead of heading the legitimate rights of masses, has resorted to torture, execution, and imprisonment of opponents. 

“I know the Al Khalifah family closely. They need to mend their relationship with their nation,” said Amir Abdollahian who served as Iran’s ambassador to Bahrain.

On September 15, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates singed U.S.-brokered deals to fully normalize relations with Israel at the White House. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Abdullah bin Zayed and Abdullatif al-Zayani, the foreign ministers of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, attended the White House meeting to sign the normalization deals.

Iran has condemned the normalization deals in the strongest terms.

Amir Abdollahian said the betrayal of the Saudi, Emirati, and Bahraini rulers toward the Palestinian cause and Quds was recorded in history.

“They will see a response by the people and the resistance,” he said, stressing that the deals were valueless. 

MH/PA