No-Fly Zone in Yemen against Int’l Law: Iranian Official

“Bombing Sana’a airport and preventing the landing of an Iranian cargo plane carrying medical aid and foodstuff for the crisis-hit people in Yemen are considered as unfriendly measures,” Amir Abdollahian said Wednesday.

“Saudi Arabia should accept the consequences (of the move),” Amir Abdollahian told the IRIB, adding that people of Yemen would not let the aggressors continue attacking and insulting their country.

Jets of Saudi Arabian-led coalition bombed the runway of Sana'a airport on Tuesday afternoon to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in the Yemeni capital.

The move came a few days after another Iranian plane carrying humanitarian goods for the war-torn people of Yemen was forced to return to Tehran after Saudi Arabia’s fighter jets refused the cargo plane landing in Yemen.

An official with Iran’s Red Crescent Society said the Iranian Foreign Ministry had obtained the required permission from Saudi Arabia for the plane to enter Saudi airspace on its way to Yemen.

Amir Abdollahian’s remarks came as he held a meeting with Robert Mardini, the regional director for the Middle East at the Red Cross, in Tehran on Wednesday.

During the meeting, he hailed the Red Cross for its efforts to battle the grim humanitarian situation in Yemen, but at the same time voiced concerns over the situation there, calling for facilitating aid delivery to the impoverished nation.

Saudi Arabia on March 26 launched a military campaign against Yemen with some its Arab allies. The coalition’s justification for the air strikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement was to restore power to fugitive Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Later on April 21, Saudis declared a halt to the month-long air campaign. But hours later, air strikes and ground fighting resumed and the International Red Cross described the humanitarian situation as "catastrophic."