British PM urges Saudi Arabia to avert Yemen 'catastrophe'

British Prime Minister Theresa May has implored Saudi leaders to ease a blockade on war-torn Yemen to "avert a humanitarian catastrophe", her office said on Thursday, echoing urgent appeals from the United Nations. A Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed Huthi rebels has only partially lifted a crippling aid blockade on Yemen, which was imposed earlier this month in response to a missile fired by the Huthis that was intercepted near Riyadh airport.
May - on a Middle East tour that took her to close ally Jordan Thursday - met both Saudi King Salman and powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh late Wednesday, with the worsening crisis in Yemen topping her agenda. "The prime minister made clear that the flow of commercial supplies on which the country (Yemen) depends must be resumed if we are to avert a humanitarian catastrophe," May's office said.
"They agreed that steps needed to be taken as a matter of urgency to address this." Saudi Arabia is Britain's largest trading partner in the Middle East, and London has signed off on more than £3.3 billion ($4.4 billion/3.7 billion euros) worth of arms sales to Riyadh since March 2015.
During her Middle East tour, May also lashed out at Iran, Saudi Arabia's arch foe. Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Iran, the predominant Shia power, have a long-standing rivalry based as much in geostrategic interests as religious differences. At a press conference in Jordan after meeting King Abdullah II, May excoriated Tehran for "destabilising activity" across the region from Yemen to Syria. The Saudi-led coalition, which began its military intervention in Yemen in 2015, has accused Iran of supplying ballistic missiles to the rebels. Tehran denies the charge.
May called for a tougher response to Iran's "ballistic programme and proliferation of weapons" and said it was "unacceptable" for the Huthis to fire missiles at Riyadh. Yemen's Huthi on Thursday threatened retaliation unless the blockade is lifting, implicitly threatening fresh missile attacks. On Syria, the British premier called on all players to "unite behind" UN-led talks in Geneva and "stop creating rival" processes as Russia, Iran and Turkey push a separate initiative. May's tour also saw her make a surprise stopover in Baghdad Wednesday where she met her Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi and hailed recent military gains against the Islamic State group.