Body of Assassinated Iranian Diplomat in Yemen Arrives in Tehran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Body of the assassinated Iranian diplomat in Yemen, Abolqasem Assadi, arrived in Tehran Monday morning in a special flight and was received by foreign ministry officials in a ceremonial manner.
The bereaved family members of the late diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and the late diplomats’ colleagues were among the participants in the mourning reception ceremony.
Foreign Minister Zarif expressed deep sympathy with Assadi’s family members in the event.
On Saturday, January 18, Iranian commercial attaché in Yemen Abolqassem Assadi was shot dead by unknown gunmen outside the Iranian ambassador’s residence in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a.
The assailants first tried to abduct the Iranian diplomat, but when they faced resistance, opened fire on him, shot him four times, and fled the scene immediately afterwards.
Assadi died of the gunshot wounds later in the day after undergoing surgery in a hospital in Sana’a.
Meanwhile, the Iranian foreign ministry issued a statement on Sunday, and condemned the bloody attack as an “inhumane and terrorist act.”
The statement also noted that such a terrorist attack unveils the violent and extremist nature of the Takfiri (extremist) groups, which have targeted the unity and solidarity in the Islamic Ummah (society).
“Such terrorist and violent measures will intensify the aversion that the whole Islamic nations and countries, particularly the Muslim people of Yemen and Iran, have to the ominous phenomenon of terrorism, violence and extremism and its elements,” the statement added.
The foreign ministry, however, stressed that it will exploit all its political and legal potential to pursue the case seriously, in cooperation with the Yemeni officials, in order to prosecute and punish those terrorists behind the assassination of the Iranian diplomat.
In a separate development following the incident on Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the Yemeni chargé d'affaires to protest the assassination of the diplomat in Sana’a.
The foreign ministry also reminded the Yemeni official of the fact that under international rules and regulations, governments are responsible for the security of foreign diplomats.
And in a telephone conversation after the attack, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi expressed condolences to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif and the victim’s family.
Qirbi also said the Yemeni government would welcome an Iranian delegation to Sana’a and was ready to cooperate with Iran to investigate the attack.