Iran to send more humanitarian aid to Yemen

A senior Iranian official has criticized the United Nations for failing to play an active role in settling the crisis in Yemen, saying Iran would dispatch more humanitarian aid to people in the war-wracked country as soon as possible.

“In line with its humanitarian and moral duty and regional undertakings, the Islamic Republic of Iran will press ahead with its responsible measures to immediately send humanitarian aid via sea and air in coordination with the United Nations,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a phone conversation with the UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed on Tuesday.

He added that Tehran supports intra-Yemeni dialog under the UN supervision and believes that any peace talks without the participation of influential parties would fail to settle the crisis and would harm national talks between various parties and groups in the impoverished Arab state.

The UN is preparing to hold peace negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 28 in a bid to discuss ways to end the Saudi aggression against Yemen.

Amir-Abdollahian urged international relief organizations to send medical aid to people in war-hit Yemen, saying, “The United Nations is required to play a more active role in helping the oppressed and defenseless Yemeni people.”

He said Saudi Arabia repeatedly violated a five-day ceasefire in Yemen and that the Al Saud’s brutal airstrikes have caused a humanitarian catastrophe there.

The Iranian official expressed regret that no effective measure has been adopted during the temporary truce in Yemen to help people, saying, “Many injured people, particularly children and women, are exposed to direct danger because they cannot be dispatched to different countries and due to severe shortage of medicine and medical equipment.”

An Iranian cargo vessel, carrying 2,500 tons of humanitarian supplies to Yemen, is scheduled to arrive in the western Yemeni port city of Hudaydah on May 21. The ship, dubbed Nejat (Rescue), set sail from Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas on May 11.