Local Editor

An Iranian ship carrying humanitarian aid for war-ravaged Yemenis has arrived in Djibouti on Friday.

Iran’s Ambassador to Djibouti and Ethiopia, Ali Bahraini, welcomed the people on board the aid ship, dubbed Nejat [Rescue], upon their arrival in Djibouti on Friday night.

This is the first Iranian relief cargo for the Yemeni people which has arrived in Djibouti, Bahraini told reporters, adding that the first plane carrying humanitarian aid destined for Yemen is also scheduled to land in Djibouti within hours.

According to Bahraini, he said: we maintain constant contact with the United Nations [UN] and the World Food Programme in a bid to dispatch humanitarian aid to the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah in the quickest time possible.

Additionally, Iran’s Red Crescent Society Secretary General Ali Asghar Ahmadi said that Iranian officials are "assessing the situation" and will decide on the continuation of the ship’s voyage later on Saturday.

This week on Wednesday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said that the Iranian ship has been dispatched under "full coordination with the UN" and would head for nearby Djibouti, where the world body has established a delivery hub.

The aid ship, which left the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on May 11, is carrying 2,500 tons of basic supplies, including flour, rice, medicine, and water. Several international journalists, doctors, and anti-war activists are also aboard the ship.

Saudi Arabia has already blocked earlier Iranian aid deliveries to Yemen. Recently last month in April, it prevented two Iranian civilian planes from delivering medical aid and foodstuff to the impoverished people in Yemen.

According to the United Nations [UN], nearly 2,000 people have been killed and 7,330 injured since March due to the conflict in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia began its US-led military aggression on Yemen on March 26 -- without a UN mandate -- in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement, and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a close ally of Saudi Arabia.