AFP: Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi on Sunday urged Tehran to crack down on Iranian groups he accused of aiding Huthi rebels in northern Yemen and held Iran's government partly to blame. KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi on Sunday urged Tehran to crack down on Iranian groups he accused of aiding Huthi rebels in northern Yemen and held Iran's government partly to blame.
"Religious (Shiite) circles and groups in Iran are providing aid to the Huthis," he told a press conference in Kuwait City on the eve of a summit of Yemen's Gulf Arab neighbours.
"Although we are not directly accusing the Iranian official side, we believe that the message is clear that a country with groups aiding rebels in other countries is partly responsible. Iran must stop this aid," he said.
"This requires the Iranian government to take measures against elements that are backing terrorism and rebellion outside its borders," the Yemeni foreign minister said.
Yemeni government forces have been fighting against Zaidi Shiite rebels, known as Huthis, and Sanaa has charged the rebels were receiving aid from Iran, despite repeated denials from Tehran.
Kurbi said he delivered a letter from President Ali Abdullah Saleh to Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah whose country hosts Arab leaders of the Gulf at their annual summit starting on Monday.
The letter focused on developments in Yemen and the need for economic aid for his Arabian peninsula state.
The Kuwaiti emir "whose views reflect those of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states stressed total support for Yemen and that the GCC summit will study providing economic and security" to Yemen, Kurbi said.
The fighting in Yemen tops the political agenda of the two-day GCC summit, especially as neighbouring Saudi Arabia has becoming embroiled in the war.
Kurbi, however, refuted Huthi charges that Saudi Arabia has been bombarding Yemeni territory, saying Saudi forces had limited their action to fighting rebel infiltrators inside the kingdom.
