In a videoconference on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Asghar Khaji’s senior adviser spoke with Hans Grundberg, the UN secretary-general’s special envoy for Yemen, as Tehran stepped up its efforts to end the humanitarian catastrophe in the Arab country.

During the online meeting, Khaji expressed extreme concern over escalating tensions and an upsurge in recent Saudi-led coalition airstrikes against residential and civilian areas in Yemen.

He demanded that the UN and the international community intervene in Yemen and end the war waged by Saudi Arabia against the country as well as the inhumane siege of the Yemeni people.

The Iranian adviser also stressed that the Islamic Republic will continue its efforts to help establish a just peace in Yemen, according to the Foreign Ministry website.

For his part, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General highlighted Iran’s role in establishing peace in Yemen.

Grundberg also described UN efforts to lift the Saudi-led blockade, establish a ceasefire and resume political talks in Yemen.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh, to power.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, and led to what the UN has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Some 3.3 million people have been displaced from their homes and 24 million, or more than 80% of the population, are in need of assistance, according to the UN.