“The aggression by Saudi Arabia against Yemen and its innocent people was a mistake,” Khamenei said in a speech on Iranian TV. “This is a crime and genocide that can be prosecuted in the international courts.”
The Supreme Leader stressed that Saudi Arabia and its allies will never achieve victory in the conflict with Houthi fighters, who took control of Yemen’s capital Sana’a in 2014 and are now on the offensive in the southern part of the country.
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“Saudi will absolutely lose in the military operation against Yemen. It will definitely get hurt and eat crow,” he said.
According to Al-Manar News, Khamenei also compared Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen to Israel’s military operation in Gaza last summer.
“The Zionists are more powerful than the Saudis. However, they could not accomplish their goals in their military operation against Gaza,” he said, adding that Gaza “is a small region while Yemen is a big country and there are millions of Yemeni people there.”
Khamenei’s words were echoed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who said on Thursday that airstrikes against the Houthis were “wrong” and urged the nations involved in the conflict to think “about an end to the war, about ceasefire and humanitarian assistance to the suffering people of Yemen."
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Saudi Arabia initiated air strikes against the Shia Muslim Houthis two weeks ago, with the aim of suppressing the rebels and reinstating deposed Sunni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to power.
The World Health Organization said on Thursday that 643 people have been killed and 2,226 injured in the Yemen conflict.
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