Local Editor

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, condemned on Tuesday the Saudi aerial and naval blockade of Yemen.

Abdollahian said on Tuesday that, "It is unacceptable that wounded Yemenis, particularly children and women, have been denied access to medical aid because of the continuation of the cruel naval and aerial blockade, and that it is not possible to shift them out of Yemen for treatment".

He made the remarks in a meeting with Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] in Yemen Cedric Schweizer in Iran’s capital of Tehran.

He also emphasized that the Geneva-based ICRC plays a significant role in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the defenseless Yemenis, calling for the quick transfer of food and medical consignments to Yemen.

Additionally, he voiced Iran’s readiness to put its humanitarian supplies at the disposal of ICRC.

For his part, Schweizer briefed Abdollahian on the ongoing ICRC efforts in Yemen, urging regional countries to send their humanitarian aid consignments to Yemen via ICRC bureaus in the southern Omani port city of Salalah as well as the African country of Djibouti.

Saudi Arabia began its US-led military attacks against 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.

According to the UN, nearly 2,000 people have been killed and 7,330 injured due to the conflict in Yemen over the past weeks.