“It is a threat to the U.S. and it can not continue”.
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Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the comments by Secretary of State John Kerry on a visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday were “completely baseless”.
Speaking at a press conference in Jiddah, Mr Kerry said: “The bloodshed, I think most would agree, has simply gone on for too long”.
They also occurred on the same day that the United Nations human rights chief called for an global investigation of rights abuses and violence in Yemen’s civil war, which has killed more than 9,000 people, including almost 3,800 civilians, and displaced 3 million.
Though US officials occasionally issue statements urging “all sides” to stop killing civilians, they continue to support the Saudis more or less unconditionally. In among the attacks, two Saudi girls were killed and five of their family members wounded when a rocket hit their dwelling in the boundary area of Najran, the kingdom’s SPA news agency said.
The meetings come as UN-mediated peace talks to bring an end to the war in Yemen were suspended earlier this month. Seats on the new rebel governing body in Sanaa, the Supreme Political Council (SPC), are equally shared between Houthi and Saleh loyalists.
Yemeni Shiite Houthi rebels have reportedly fired missiles targeting Saudi Aramco, allegedly damaging the oil giant’s facilities in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Friday, according to local Houthi-affiliated media, with no confirmation from Saudi officials or Aramco itself.
Kerry’s meeting with King Salman lasted roughly half an hour.
The United Nations top human rights official called Thursday for an worldwide inquiry into possible war crimes and other accusations of abuses in Yemen.
On Thursday, Kerry said the Houthis must cease shelling across the border with Saudi Arabia, withdraw from the capital Sanaa, hand over their weapons including the ballistic missiles and enter into a unity government with their domestic foes. The border violence has killed several civilians and Saudi border guards.
The Shi’ite-led Iraqi government has uneasy relations with regional Sunni power Saudi Arabia.
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Both the Saudi-led coalition and the opposing Houthis have been accused of abuses against citizens of the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
