A top Iranian official says resorting to the military option regarding Yemen is a mistake, highlighting a rise in the number of Saudi air raids on the impoverished Arab country.

“Insistence on using a military approach in this country (Yemen) is a miscalculation,” said Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, in a Saturday phone conversation with UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed.

The top Iranian diplomat said a military approach would harm the atmosphere created for UN-sponsored talks among Yemeni groups.

While appreciating efforts made by the UN envoy as well as the world body’s chief Ban Ki-moon, the Iranian official noted, “The UN’s failure to ward off a humanitarian disaster in Yemen would dent the reputation and credibility of this organization” regarding the safeguarding of human rights.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran expects the UN to tap into its full potential to stop war and bloodshed in the run-up to Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice, an Islamic occasion much revered and celebrated by Muslims),” said Amir-Abdollahian.

He also underlined the need to dispatch humanitarian aid to war-stricken Yemeni people as soon as possible.

The UN envoy, in turn, touched upon the latest efforts made to arrange a political dialog among Yemeni groups in the Omani capital Muscat, stressing that negotiations should continue.

He said the Yemeni crisis can only be settled politically, not militarily.

All foreign parties as well as local groups and entities which have a say in running the nation’s affairs should contribute to efforts aimed at bringing about direct talks among Yemeni groups in a bid to help establish a ceasefire in the country soon.

Saudi Arabia began its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 – without a UN mandate – in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to fugitive former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The conflict has so far left about 5,200 people dead and thousands of others wounded, the UN says. Local Yemeni sources, however, say the fatality figure is much higher.