President Al-Mashat: Yemen has right to take measures to end blockade after exhausting peace efforts

Yemen’s President Mahdi al-Mashat said Monday that Yemen has the full right to take measures it deems necessary to end the blockade after exhausting all peace efforts over recent years.

In a statement to the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), al-Mashat said the Saudi regime’s conduct and continued insistence on imposing a blockade on Yemen demonstrated, in his words, that Riyadh had no intention of pursuing peace.

He said no one has the right to legitimize the unjust blockade imposed by the Al Saud regime on the Yemeni people, adding that statements seeking to justify the blockade and condemn Yemen’s position were issued from a single source and were “paid for.”

Al-Mashat also called on those supporting such condemnations to ask the Saudi regime to accept on its own territory the same measures being imposed on Yemen.

The remark comes amid a sharp escalation between Yemen and Saudi Arabia following the Saudi airstrike on Sana’a International Airport, which is an attempt to tighten restrictions on Yemen’s air and maritime access. The Yemeni Armed Forces said the maritime ban on the Saudi enemy was a response to years of blockade and continued violations of Yemeni sovereignty.