DHAKA: Iran demanded an immediate halt to Saudi-led military operations in Yemen on Thursday and said it would make all necessary efforts to control the crisis there.

Iranian news agencies reported, says The Jerusalem Post.

Warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Arab allies on Thursday struck Iran-allied Houthi forces fighting to oust the country’s Western-backed president. Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV reported a ground offensive with troops from other Muslim states was being prepared.

‘The Saudi-led air strikes should stop immediately and it is against Yemen’s sovereignty,’ the Students News Agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying.

‘We will make all efforts to control crisis in Yemen,’ Zarif said, according to the agency’s report from the Swiss city of Lausanne where he is negotiating with world powers on curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

Earlier on Thursday, the foreign ministry in Tehran called for an immediate end to the military operations.

‘Iran wants an immediate halt to all military aggressions and air strikes against Yemen and its people,’ Fars quoted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham as saying.

BDST: 1858 HRS, MAR 26, 2015