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Iran to deliver humanitarian aid to Yemen

Xinhua, May 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iran will send humanitarian aid to war-stricken Yemen later on Sunday, Tasnim news agency reported.

A ship carrying 2,500 tons of humanitarian aid including food and medicine is due to arrive at the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on the Red Sea, according to the report.

On board the ship, there will be 15 medical staff, 13 media representatives, seven anti-war activists from the United States, France and Germany plus the crew members, the report said.

The ship, named Rescue Ship, will leave the Iranian southern port city of Bandar Abbas to Hodeida through the Sea of Oman, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, it said, adding that coordination has been made with the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Authority of Saudi Arabia, Oman and Djibouti.

Earlier, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that the ship is scheduled to arrive at its destination in approximately 10 days.

Iran has warned that it would not allow a Saudi-led coalition to intercept the ship.

"We will continue to send humanitarian aid to Yemen and never allow the country's siege," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said last week.

"Regional security along with Iran's is intertwined with Yemen's security," he said.

Last month, fighter jets of the Saudi-led coalition intercepted an Iranian plane over the Yemeni sky and destroyed the runway of Sanaa airport to prevent it from landing. Iran said the plane was carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has long been accusing Iran of arming and financing Houthi fighters, an accusation strongly rejected by Tehran.

Earlier reports said that the U.S. warships had also intercepted the Iranian ships near Yemen's waters last month.

Airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition on Houthi rebels in Yemen have been going on since late March. More than 1,000 people have been killed and 3,000 injured in the airstrikes and in fierce fighting between the Shiite Houthi group and tribal militia loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Earlier in the day, Yemen's Shiite Houthi group and the army welcomed a Saudi proposal for a five-day cease-fire to allow aids to be delivered to the country.

"We welcome the five-day humanitarian truce announced by the Saudi foreign minister that will start on Tuesday," Houthi spokesman Hussein al-Ezzy said in a brief statement early Sunday, without providing further details.

In a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the cease-fire would begin on Tuesday night and the implementation was contingent on cooperation by the Houthis.

However, the Saudi-led coalition forces continued its air strikes overnight on Yemen's capital Sanaa and the northern Saada province, the stronghold of the Houthi group.

On Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the Saudis are making a "very big strategic mistake" by bombing Yemen.

Saudi Arabia is pouring bombs on the impoverished Yemeni people instead of helping the developing country, which is "unfair," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Press TV. Endit