Tue 28 July 2020:
Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reportedly reached out to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with a letter offering to work together on Yemen, despite the history of tensions between the two countries.
Ahmadinejad, who served as Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013, sent a letter to the Crown Prince in which he offered to coordinate a ceasefire in Yemen, according to the New York Times, which said it received a copy of the letter from Ahmadinejad’s office.
“I know that your excellency is not happy about the current situation of innocent people dying and getting injured every day and infrastructure being damaged,” Ahmadinejad reportedly wrote personally in the letter, which was signed “your brother Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”
“You are upset that regional resources belonging to the people are used for destruction instead of developing peace and prosperity. For these reasons you will welcome a just peace,” he added.
Iranian media also reported on the letter, but no official Saudi Arabian sources had acknowledged it as of Monday.
Ahmadinejad holds a seat on Iran’s Expediency Council, an appointed body that supposedly has a supervisory role over the Iranian government, and has repeatedly said he wants to stand as a candidate for president again. However, his nomination has been rejected by the Guardian Council, the body that vets all nominations, and his letter was not written on behalf of the Iranian government.
Iran is accused of providing financial and material backing to the Houthi militia, which is fighting against the UN-recognized government of Yemen led by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.
A United Nations report recently recognized that weapons “of Iranian origin” had been shipped to Yemen and were used by the Houthis in attacks against oil facilities and Abha international airport in Saudi Arabia last year.
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