TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Pakistani politician described his country's opposition to military strike against Yemen as a hard blow to Saudi Arabia, and said Islamabad prefers to pursue Iran's policy on Yemen than that of Saudi Arabia.

"The Pakistani parliament's vote against collaboration with Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni war, Islamabad showed that it has preferred Tehran to Riyadh and has left Saudi Arabia in Yemen, specially when considerring that Pakistan took this important position after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's visit to Islamabad," Hossein Ahmad al-Mazaher told FNA on Sunday.

Stressing that the Pakistani nation is the master of the army and the Pakistani army cannot be hired by the foreigners, he said, "Now, the Pakistani forces' non-participation in the aggression against Yemen has struck a strong blow at Saudi Arabia."

On Friday, after days of debating, Pakistani lawmakers adopted a resolution rejecting Saudi demands for Islamabad to join its military aggression against Yemen. The member of parliaments called on the warring parties to resolve the conflict through peaceful dialogue.

The decision was made after Zarif's recent visit to Islamabad during which the two sides underlined cooperation on the regional developments.

During the trip earlier this week, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the commander of the Pakistani army, General Raheel Sharif met with Zarif in Islamabad.

Mazaher's remarks came after al-Hayat newspaper claimed on Saturday that Pakistan has reportedly refused an offer from Tehran to join its coalition with Turkey against Saudi Arabia's war policy.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 18 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed over 1030 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children. The attacks have also left more than 2242 people injured.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

Five Persian Gulf States -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait -- and Egypt that are also assisted by Israel and backed by the US declared war on Yemen in a joint statement issued on March 26.

By Fars News Agency