Local Editor

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, criticized the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] on Tuesday for dispatching "insufficient" aid for people in war-ravaged Yemen.

In a meeting with ICRC’s regional director for the Near and Middle East Robert Mardini in Iran’s capital of Tehran, Abdollahian said that the body is obligated to send humanitarian aid to regional countries which are affected by crises.

"Miscalculation and actions by certain countries in contravention of human principles and international regulations have regrettably exacerbated the humanitarian situation in the crisis-hit countries," Abdollahian said.

He said that innocent civilians are the first to fall victim to such moves, which have even affected the activities of international humanitarian relief organizations.

Abdollahian called for effective measures by the international community to immediately and regularly dispatch relief aid to the Yemeni people and prevent a "humanitarian catastrophe" in the war-ravaged country.

For his part, Mardini said that Yemen is facing a deplorable humanitarian situation and said that the ICRC is committed to sending relief aid to Yemeni civilians despite insecurity in the impoverished country.

He further said that a safe and effective dispatch of aid to Yemen is difficult given the ongoing war and the difficulty of convincing armed groups to allow distribution.

Mardini praised Iran’s humanitarian aid to Yemen, Iraq and Syria, saying that the ICRC would try to distribute Iran’s relief aid to the Yemeni people despite all problems.

A Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out a military aggression on Yemen by launching airstrikes against the country. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the United Nations [UN]. 

The US-led Saudi aggression began in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to the country’s fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Saudi Arabia.

The ’civilian’ death toll in Yemen has risen to at least 1,916, with another 4,186 civilians wounded since the escalation of the conflict in March, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR] reported recently last month.