Iran Discusses Crisis in Yemen with UN, Russia
(FNA)- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian in separate telephone conversations with UN Special Envoy on Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Bogdanov discussed the ongoing crisis in Yemen.
In his telephone conversation with Cheikh Ahmed, Amir Abdollahian briefed the UN special envoy on Iran's relief and aid programs for the Yemeni civilians.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister also called on the UN to expedite humanitarian aids to Yemen.
In his phone talk with Bogdanov, Amir Abdollahian strongly criticized the Saudi regime for blocking the dispatch of international humanitarian aid to Yemen.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister, meantime, called on the international bodies to force the Saudi-led coalition to put an immediate end to their airstrikes against the Yemenis to pave the ground for the dispatch of humanitarian aid to the crisis-hit country.
They also expressed their concerns over a surge of terrorist activities in the Muslim country.
Both diplomats reaffirmed their countries’ full support for conducting peace talks among all concerned parties in the Yemen conflict at a venue acceptable to all those involved in the crisis.
On Tuesday, Amir Abdollahian voiced Tehran's readiness to dispatch more aid cargos to Yemen, and vowed to utilize the country's entire diplomatic capacities to end the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen.
In a telephone talk with Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Ertharin Cousin, the Iranian deputy foreign minister said Iran is ready to send three Red Crescent plane-load of food and medicine to Yemen through the WFP.
He further added that Iran will sustain its consultations with UN secretary general and other international figures to bring an abrupt end to the massacre of the defenseless and oppressed people of Yemen.
The UN official said the WFP is continuing its humanitarian operation in Yemen despite all problems and is ready to increase its work by setting up a joint team with Iran.
An Iranian ship carrying humanitarian aid supplies, relief workers and peace activists from several countries left the Southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas for Yemen on Monday.
"We are a group of relief workers, physicians and peace activists from the US, Europe and Germany. We are a part of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Red Crescent Society. We are trying to bring medical stuff, flour and water for the Yemeni people," a statement issued by 7 anti-war activists aboard the ship said on Monday.
"A large number of physicians and a few journalists from Iran are accompanying us on the ship and we intend to deliver 2,500 tons of medical supplies to the Hudaydah port on the Red Sea," it added.
The activists reiterated that everything on the deck has been checked to make sure that there is no weapon on the ship.
The anti-war activists also condemned the Saudi fighter jets bombing of the Sana'a airport to prevent the delivery of Iran's humanitarian aids to Yemen, and stressed, "Preventing the dispatch of humanitarian aid to another country is a flagrant violation of the international laws."
"Let the hungry Yemeni children live! This illegal siege should end," the statement underlined.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has been trying to dispatch humanitarian aid to Yemen through sea and air, but has failed due to Saudi Arabia's full blockade of the war-ravaged country.
Late in April, Saudi jet fighters shooed away three Iranian cargo planes from Yemen's airspace. But in the third case they bombed the Sana'a airport control tower and runway seven times to prevent the Iranian defying pilot from landing. The Iranian civilian plane was carrying humanitarian aids, including medical equipment, for the Yemeni people who have been under the Saudi-led airstrikes for over a month now. The cargo plane was due to take humanitarian aid to Yemen and take several civilians, who were critically wounded in the recent Saudi bombings, back to Tehran to receive specialized medical treatment.
Iran had earlier sent five consignments of humanitarian aid to Yemen, including a total of 69 tons of relief, medical, treatment, and consumer items.
Last month, Head of the Yemeni Red Crescent Society Mohammad Ahmad al-Kebab in a letter to his Iranian counterpart Seyed Amir Mohsen Ziayee thanked Iran for the recent humanitarian and medical aid cargoes sent to his country.
"I appreciate the unsparing help and relief operations as well as the humanitarian attempts of the Iran Red Crescent Society (IRCS)," al-Kebab said in his letter.
He expressed the hope that interactions and mutual cooperation between the two countries' Red Crescent societies would increase in future.
But late in April, the IRCS blasted Saudi Arabia for blocking Iran's humanitarian aids to Yemen.
"The IRCS humanitarian aid consignments are ready to be dispatched to Yemen, but unfortunately Saudi Arabia prevents their delivery to Yemen," Shahabeddin Mohammadi Araqi, IRCS deputy managing director for international and humanitarian affairs, said.
Mohammadi Araqi described the Yemeni people's conditions as critical, and said, "We are in contact with Yemen's Red Crescent Society and Health Ministry and have included their needs in the new consignment."
He lamented that planes and ships are not allowed into Yemen's ports and airports, and said, "Unfortunately, the Saudi government has prevented the dispatch of aids to Yemen."