Obama urges Iran to help, not hinder, in Yemen

US President Barack Obama calls on Iran help find a political solution in crisis-torn Yemen, accusing the Islamic republic of contributing to the conflict there.

In an interview with MSNBC late Tuesday, Obama notes the suffering caused by the conflict and expresses hope “that we can settle down the situation in Yemen.”

“What we need to do is bring all the parties together and find a political arrangement. It is not solved by having another proxy war in Yemen,” he says.

“We’ve indicated to the Iranians that they need to be part of the solution, and not part of the problem,” he says.

The Arab coalition announced a halt to its air campaign on Tuesday, saying the threat to Yemen’s neighbors had been eliminated. But the bombing resumed on Wednesday.

The United States, which has provided logistics and intelligence support to the coalition, has sent an aircraft carrier to monitor the movements of Iranian ships.

“Right now their ships are in international waters,” Obama says.

“There’s a reason why we keep some of our ships in the Persian Gulf region and that is to make sure we maintain freedom of navigation,” he says.

“And what we’ve said to them is if there are weapons delivered to factions within Yemen that could threaten navigation, that’s a problem.”

— AFP