Baku, Azerbaijan, May 7
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran plans to dispatch a ship carrying "relief supplies" to Yemen, Ali Asghar Ahmadi Secretary-General of Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) said.
The ship carrying 2500 metric tons of relief supplies is scheduled to leave Iran's southern Bandar Abbas port on May 9, Ahmadi said, adding the arrival of the cargo to Yemen will take about ten days in normal conditions.
We have informed the Red Crescent Society of the Saudi Arabia about sending the cargo, the Iranian official said, the country's official IRNA news agency reported May 7.
The ship also will carry rescue forces from the IRCS to Yemen, he added.
The Saudi Arabia-led coalition has imposed an air and naval blockade on Yemen as part of its campaign to oust the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels, who have taken most of the country and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh.
Saudi fighter jets have prevented Iranian planes from entering Yemeni airspace in recent weeks.
Iran says that the planes were carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen, meanwhile Saudi Arabia accuse the country of providing military support to the Yemeni Shiite rebels.
It was earlier reported that Tehran has decided to send its humanitarian aids to Yemen through Oman.
Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the Islamic Republic's deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs said on May 5 that Iran will not tolerate the blockade on Yemen.
He reiterated that Tehran considers Yemen's security as its own and the Islamic Republic would not give up its efforts to send humanitarian aids to Yemen.
Edited by CN
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