Elements behind Iranian Diplomat Assassination in Yemen Identified: Official

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a memorial service held in Tehran on Friday to honor Abolqasem Assadi, an Iranian diplomat assassinated in Yemen, Amir Abdollahian announced that perpetrators of the terrorist attack have been identified.

Amir Abdollahian, however, refused to provide more details about the issue.

On January 18, Iranian commercial attaché in Yemen, 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.

Assadi died of the gunshot wounds later in the day after undergoing surgery in a hospital in Sana’a.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the deputy foreign minister pointed to the establishment of an investigative committee to study the assassination case, and noted, “After the investigation, the name of the country involved in the assassination of the Iranian diplomat will be announced.”

And in a separate development following the terrorist attack, the Iranian foreign ministry issued a statement on January 19, 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).

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.