Yemen's Ambassador Briefs Indonesia's Deputy Foreign Minister on Iranian Flights to Sana'a

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Yemen’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Salem Balfaqih, held talks in Jakarta on Wednesday with Indonesia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Dr. Anis Matta, briefing him on the latest developments in Yemen and on what the government describes as a fresh Iranian escalation. The two men focused on a dispute over flights operated from Tehran to Sana’a International Airport without the authorisation of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, an issue that has sharpened tensions in recent days.

Balfaqih told his host that the government remains committed to keeping Sana’a airport open for safe and lawful operations, provided that flights follow established legal procedures and international aviation standards. He said the authorities had offered practical arrangements to allow air traffic through the facility, but argued that any flight conducted without permission amounts to a violation of Yemeni sovereignty. Such activity, he added, breaches international law, the United Nations Charter and relevant Security Council resolutions.

The ambassador framed the dispute as part of a broader pattern of foreign interference in Yemen’s affairs. Allowing aircraft to land outside the state’s legal framework, he said, would weaken national institutions and complicate efforts to reach a durable peace. He stressed that the government would continue to defend its airspace and would not accept arrangements that bypass its aviation authorities, whatever the circumstances on the ground.

The diplomatic exchange followed one of the sharpest confrontations in years between the Houthis and the government. Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces struck the runway at Sana’a International Airport on 13 July to prevent a Mahan Air flight from Iran from landing in the Houthi-controlled capital. The Iranian carrier had sought permission to fly a Houthi delegation home from Tehran, according to the government, which said it had rejected the request. The Airbus A340 diverted to Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast and landed there instead.

Mahan Air, the carrier at the centre of the dispute, is a privately owned Iranian airline that has long operated under United States sanctions over what Washington describes as its links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Its involvement lent the episode added weight in the eyes of the government and its Gulf partners, who portrayed the attempted landing as evidence of direct Iranian reach into Houthi-held territory. Tehran and the Houthis deny that Iran directs the movement.

Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council described an earlier flight as a blatant violation of the country’s sovereignty, a challenge to international law and a breach of Security Council resolutions. Government officials maintain that every international flight must comply with Yemeni law, warning that permitting an Iranian aircraft to operate outside those rules would erode the authority of the state. The Houthis, who hold Sana’a, reject the government’s claim to control the airport and later fired missiles toward Saudi Arabia, whose coalition backs the recognised administration.

For his part, Matta said Indonesia was following events in Yemen closely and reaffirmed Jakarta’s support for efforts to build peace and stability. He emphasised dialogue as the essential route to resolving conflict, a position consistent with Indonesia’s broader diplomacy in the Islamic world, where Matta oversees relations on behalf of the foreign ministry. He indicated a willingness to work with international partners in support of a negotiated settlement, though he offered no specific commitments.

The choice of Indonesia as a venue for pressing Yemen’s case is itself notable. As the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country and an influential voice in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Jakarta carries diplomatic weight in debates over conflicts across the Islamic world. Yemeni officials have increasingly sought to rally support in such capitals, hoping that a wider chorus of governments raising concerns about foreign interference will strengthen their position in any future negotiations.

Yemen has been mired in war since 2015, when the Iran-aligned Houthi movement seized Sana’a and a Saudi-led coalition intervened to restore the government now based in Aden. The conflict has hardened into a fractured struggle involving multiple armed factions and competing regional patrons. Iran’s support for the Houthis is widely seen by Gulf states and Western governments as an attempt to extend its influence along a strategically sensitive stretch of coastline, a charge Tehran denies.

That sensitivity is heightened by geography. Yemen sits at the southern end of the Red Sea, beside the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Control over the waterway and the airspace above the country carries implications far beyond Yemen’s borders, which is part of why the flight dispute has drawn attention from capitals across the region. Disruptions to maritime and air traffic in the area can ripple quickly through global trade.

The war has also produced a humanitarian catastrophe. United Nations agencies estimate that more than 18 million people need assistance, and several million have been displaced. Recurrent outbreaks of cholera and measles have compounded the strain on a health system battered by years of fighting, and aid agencies warn that renewed military escalation could push an already desperate population further toward the brink.

Looking ahead, the government’s rejection of unauthorised flights signals its determination to assert sovereignty even as it struggles with fractured internal politics and a collapsing economy. Diplomats say sustained international engagement, paired with humanitarian relief, will be needed to prevent the standoff over Sana’a airport from widening into a broader confrontation. For now, meetings such as the one in Jakarta allow the government to press its case abroad, while the underlying dispute over who controls Yemen’s skies remains unresolved.