Ayatollah Khamenei: Foreign Intervention Is Counterproductive
Foreign intervention in Yemen is the wrong way to respond to intrastate violence and civil war, especially following the debacles in Afghanistan and Iraq.According to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, a halt to the military aggression and foreign meddling is the only solution to the crisis plaguing the Arabian Peninsula.
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Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks on Tuesday, April 7, in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Tehran. The Iranian Leader further touched on the following issues:
1. Iran stands against foreign military intervention in the Middle East, particularly in Yemen. The only way out of the current humanitarian crisis is an immediate halt to the Saudi-led airstrikes and attacks.
2. The people of Yemen should be allowed to decide the future of their country. The United States and Israel are the only winners of this needless conflict. They have no intention to protect civilians and every intension to help destabilizing forces like ISIL and al-Qaeda.
3. Those who trust the United States and Israel stand to lose. The outcome of their terrible measures in the region is to the detriment of Muslims. Those who refuse to see the enemies behind current crises are fooling themselves.
4. What goes on in Yemen and elsewhere is what Washington and Tel Aviv desire. They don’t want an end to the humanitarian crises or the scourge of the ISIL terrorist group – their own creation.
5. Muslim nations should stand united against foreign-backed military aggression and terrorism. The strength of every Muslim nation is the strength of the Islamic world. Shia and Sunni Muslims should help strengthen each other in these difficult times.
6. The enemies of Islam have launched a new counteroffensive against “Islamic awakening” across the region. It is wrong for some governments to back the anti-Islam campaign, which has only caused pain and suffering for civilians.
As is, Ayatollah Khamenei’s position represents a qualified support for national dialogue between warring factions and tribes in Yemen. He places confidence in diplomacy and regional efforts to resolve the crisis. In this new war of deceit, no one stands to win, including Saudi Arabia and its US-allied cronies. The Iranian Leader demands an immediate end to the airstrikes, rather than conditionally and gradually - as Riyadh would like to suggest.
Additionally, the people of Yemen won’t benefit from foreign military intervention, especially the emergence of “the responsibility to protect,” which holds that the international community has a special set of responsibilities to protect civilians - by force, if necessary.
To some extent, the Iranian Leader’s skepticism is understandable: Past failures have been more newsworthy than successes, and foreign interventions have inevitably faced steep challenges.
The self-serving doctrine has become integrated into a growing tool kit of bullying for regime change that includes today’s military aggression against Yemen. Collectively, the strategy has helped foster an era of declining concern for international law, with illegal wars occurring more frequently and producing far more civilian casualties than in previous periods.
/SR
