25 Apr 2024
Friday 15 May 2015 - 22:29
Story Code : 164797

Senior MP: Iran not to allow inspection of aid ship to Yemen

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Iranian lawmaker underlined that no other country is allowed to inspect Iran's aid cargo ship heading towards Yemen.

"We send Iran's relief aid ship to Yemen and will not allow any foreign power to inspect or stop it," Rapporteur of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini said, addressing a pre-sermon speech at Tehran's Friday Prayers today.

He, meantime, rejected the allegations that Iran interferes in Yemen's internal affairs, and said, "The enemies know that if we had intended to interfere in Yemen the Al Saud regime would have vanished in the first week" (of their aggression against Yemen).

On Wednesday, a senior Iranian health official announced that the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) sent a ship loaded with pharmaceuticals and medical equipment to Yemen.

"A ship carrying a 12-member medical team from Iran as well as over 100 tons of the country's aid comprising medicine and medical equipment was dispatched to Yemen on Wednesday morning," IRCS Deputy Managing Director Seyed Reza Rais Karami told reporters.

The IRCS has been trying to dispatch humanitarian aid to Yemen through sea and air, but has so far been unable to do so due to Saudi Arabia's blockade of the war-ravaged country.

On Monday, an Iranian ship carrying humanitarian aid supplies, relief workers and peace activists from several countries left the Southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas for Yemen.

"We are a group of relief workers, physicians and peace activists from the US, Europe and Germany. We are a part of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Red Crescent Society. We are trying to bring medical stuff, flour and water for the Yemeni people," a statement issued by 7 anti-war activists aboard the ship said.

Late in April, Saudi jet fighters shooed away three Iranian cargo planes from Yemen's airspace. But in the third case they bombed the Sana'a airport control tower and runway seven times to prevent the Iranian defying pilot from landing. The Iranian civilian plane was carrying humanitarian aids, including medical equipment, for the Yemeni people who have been under the Saudi-led airstrikes for over a month now. The cargo plane was due to take humanitarian aid to Yemen and take several civilians, who were critically wounded in the recent Saudi bombings, back to Tehran to receive specialized medical treatment.Iran had earlier sent five consignments of humanitarian aid to Yemen, including a total of 69 tons of relief, medical, treatment, and consumer items

Last month, Head of the Yemeni Red Crescent Society Mohammad Ahmad al-Kebab in a letter to his Iranian counterpart Seyed Amir Mohsen Ziayee thanked Iran for the recent humanitarian and medical aid cargoes sent to his country.

"I appreciate the unsparing help and relief operations as well as the humanitarian attempts of the Iran Red Crescent Society (IRCS)," al-Kebab said in his letter.

He expressed the hope that interactions and mutual cooperation between the two countries' Red Crescent societies would increase in future.

But late in April, the IRCS blasted Saudi Arabia for blocking Iran's humanitarian aids to Yemen.

"The IRCS humanitarian aid consignments are ready to be dispatched to Yemen, but unfortunately Saudi Arabia prevents their delivery to Yemen," Shahabeddin Mohammadi Araqi, IRCS deputy managing director for international and humanitarian affairs, said.

Mohammadi Araqi described the Yemeni people's conditions as critical, and said, "We are in contact with Yemen's Red Crescent Society and Health Ministry and have included their needs in the new consignment."

He lamented that planes and ships are not allowed into Yemen's ports and airports, and said, "Unfortunately, the Saudi government has prevented the dispatch of aids to Yemen."

Humanitarian organizations say they face a tough challenge for delivering aid to the Yemeni people affected by the ongoing Saudi onslaught, because of a severe fuel shortage and difficulty accessing warehouses and safety issues due to the bombings.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 51 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 3,803 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

By Fars News Agency
https://theiranproject.com/vdcdno0f5yt0956.em2y.html
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