Pakistan asks Iran to bring Yemen rebels to table

Pakistan’s prime minister is calling on Iran to use its influence to help bring Yemen’s Shiite rebels to the negotiating table on the crisis roiling their country, where Saudi-led airstrikes have been targeting the rebels for over two weeks.

The call comes after the parliament in the predominantly majority Sunni Pakistan voted on Friday to stay out of the Yemen conflict and not send troops for the Saudi-led coalition, as Pakistani officials said the kingdom had asked for. Lawmakers also unanimously demanded that Pakistan “maintain its neutrality in the Yemen conflict” in order to help negotiate a diplomatic solution.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says he discussed Yemen in depth with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who visited Islamabad last week, and that he denounced the power grab by the Yemeni rebels known as Houthis.

Iran, which backs the Houthis, has lobbied Pakistan and other Sunni nations to back a cease-fire and a negotiated end to the conflict.

— AP