Iran Spares No Effort to Deliver Aid to War-Hit Yemenis: IRCS Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The secretary general of Iran's Red Crescent Society pledged that the country will do its best to deliver humanitarian aid to war victims in Yemen, who are under a heavy siege by the Saudi-led coalition.
“The Iranian nation will not hesitate to take any action to deliver its (cargos of) humanitarian assistance to the oppressed people of Yemen,” Ali Asghar Ahmadi said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency on Monday evening.
He also pointed to a cargo ship carrying Iran’s humanitarian assistance to Yemen, saying that the ship’s mission is to deliver the Iranian nation’s humanitarian aid to Yemenis.
He said the IRCS has done necessary coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Red Crescent Societies of Oman, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia over the dispatch of the cargo ship.
The Nejat cargo ship, which belongs to Valfajr Shipping Company, set sail on Monday for the Yemeni port of Hodeida.
It is carrying 2,500 tons of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine supplies, for the war victims in Yemen.
60 people, including a 15-member medical team, 13 journalists, 7 international anti-war activists from the US, France and Germany as well as 25 crew members have been dispatched to Yemen aboard the ship.
In the meantime, Yemen consented to a five-day truce proposed by Saudi Arabia, which will begin on Tuesday night.
The ceasefire, which is to allow humanitarian aid in, is to come into force at 11pm (2000 GMT) on Tuesday.
On March 26, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies began to launch deadly air strikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
The Saudi-led coalition announced on April 21 that its military operation "Decisive Storm" has ended, but hours later, air strikes and ground fighting resumed.