Afrah al-Zouba, foreign minister of Yemen's legitimate government, on Saturday, 17 October 2026, rejected the Islamic Republic's offer to mediate in the Yemen war, saying the Tehran government itself stands on one side of the war against the Yemeni people and cannot be its mediator. Abbas Araghchi, the Islamic Republic's foreign minister, had proposed at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Baghdad to help end the war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis.
In a separate message on X, al-Zouba wrote that the Islamic Republic had offered to mediate between two sides, one of which it had armed itself, and described Tehran as in effect the instigator of the Houthi coup. The same day, Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the coalition supporting Yemen's legitimate government, announced that four Houthi drones launched toward Riyadh and Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province had been intercepted and destroyed, and that Saudi fighter jets had knocked out two Houthi ballistic missile launch pads in Saada province in northwestern Yemen.
Mediation in the shadow of arms support
Araghchi's offer was made at the same summit at which the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Earlier, Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesman for the Islamic Republic's foreign ministry, had rejected Saudi Arabia's accusation about Tehran's role in these attacks and had offered mediation.
This comes as Saudi intelligence assessments indicate that IRGC officers in Yemen are directing the targeting of Houthi drone and missile attacks. The United States has also repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of supplying the weapons, equipment and technology used in Houthi attacks and has sanctioned the group's financial and arms networks. On Friday, the Saudi-led coalition also announced it had foiled a maritime arms-smuggling operation for the Houthis in Hodeidah province.
Yemen's foreign minister: the Islamic Republic, which has armed one side of the war, cannot be a mediator.
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