US committed 'strategic mistake' by attacking Yemen, Iran's FM tells Lavrov

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that a decision by the United States to attack Yemen last week was a strategic mistake.

Amir-Abdollahian told Lavrov in a phone conversation initiated by the Russian side on Monday that the US is seeking to militarize the Red Sea after it managed to persuade the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution to condemn attacks on shipping in the region.

The resolution came amid attacks by Yemen’s ruling Ansarullah movement on ships linked to the Israeli regime and in response to continued Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

In retaliation, US and British warplanes, ships and submarines launched dozens of airstrikes across Yemen on Friday, martyring five people and injuring six others..

“The continued Israeli attacks on Gaza and US interventionist measures in the Red Sea will fuel instability in the region,” warned Amir-Abdollahian.

For his part, Lavrov said the current condition in the Red Sea is an outcome of intensified tensions in Palestine.

He also reiterated Russia’s unconditional commitment to respect Iran’s territorial integrity, especially with regards to the country’s sovereignty over three islands in the Persian Gulf on which some Arab countries have raised claims.

The remarks come nearly a month after Iranian officials voiced deep anger at a statement adopted at the end of a Russian-Arab summit in Morocco in which Moscow had approved Arab calls for settlement of what it described as a dispute over the three islands.

This is Moscow’s unchangeable stance and should never be doubted, said Lavrov in the phone call with Amir-Abdollahian, according to remarks covered by IRNA.

The two foreign ministers also discussed bilateral issues between Iran and Russia and emphasized the need for expansion of trade relations through increased activity on cargo transit routes in the two countries and in the region.

ME