Yemen Urges Support for Legitimate Govt, Ending Houthi Ties to Iran

Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Awad bin Mubarak meets with Director of the Middle East and North Africa of German Foreign Office Dr. Tobias Tunkel.
Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Awad bin Mubarak meets with Director of the Middle East and North Africa of German Foreign Office Dr. Tobias Tunkel.
TT

Yemen Urges Support for Legitimate Govt, Ending Houthi Ties to Iran

Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Awad bin Mubarak meets with Director of the Middle East and North Africa of German Foreign Office Dr. Tobias Tunkel.
Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Awad bin Mubarak meets with Director of the Middle East and North Africa of German Foreign Office Dr. Tobias Tunkel.

Yemen’s legitimate government reiterated on Friday its call on the international community to provide it with political and economic support.

Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Awad bin Mubarak met on Friday with Director of the Middle East and North Africa of German Foreign Office Dr. Tobias Tunkel to discuss the latest developments in Yemen.

They addressed the efforts to end the war "caused by the Houthi aggression against the Yemeni people," the FM was quoted as saying by the state news agency Saba.

He underscored the need to provide the suitable conditions to achieve peace and support the legitimate government.

The officials tackled Iran’s obstructive role in Yemen and "the need for the Houthi militias to end their affiliations with it so that security and stability can be restored in the country."

Tunkel stressed Germany’s support to peace efforts in Yemen, saying it "stands by the country’s unity and territorial integrity."

Meanwhile, the government intensified efforts to combat the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the Houthis.

Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik met with the central bank governor, defense minister, commander of the second military zone, customs officials and others to address the smuggling.

The PM hailed the concerned authorities on their efforts and ordered that rewards be offered to the border employees and soldiers who seized the latest smuggled shipment.

He ordered that a mechanism be put in place to encourage employees and offer rewards for busting smuggling attempts.

The gatherers announced that more measures to combat the smuggling will be introduced.



US Charges Iran Guards Captain in 2022 Killing of American in Iraq

Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
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US Charges Iran Guards Captain in 2022 Killing of American in Iraq

Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)

The US Justice Department said on Friday it had charged a captain in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards with murder and terrorism offenses in the 2022 death of American Stephen Troell in Iraq.

Mohammad Reza Nouri, 36, helped plan an attack on Troell, 45, who was working at an English language institute in central Baghdad, according to a complaint unsealed in US Federal Court in Manhattan.

The attack was carried out in retaliation for the US killing of the Revolutionary Guards' top commander Qassem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike, according to the complaint.

"The Department of Justice will not tolerate terrorists and authoritarian regimes targeting and murdering Americans anywhere in the world," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Nouri is already in custody in Iraq after being convicted, along with four Iraqis, in that country for Troell's murder. All five were sentenced to life in prison in Iraq last year.

Nouri is facing eight charges in US court, including murder of a US national and providing material support to terrorism resulting in death. The United States considers the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.

It was not yet clear if Nouri had an attorney. Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint accuses Nouri of collecting personal information on Troell, whom he appears to have believed was an American or Israeli intelligence officer, and recruiting operatives to target him.

Troell was shot and killed on Nov. 7, 2022, after a heavily armed gunman forced him to stop while he was driving home with his wife, according to US authorities.