A senior Iranian official says the Islamic Republic supports the United Nations’ efforts to establish lasting ceasefire in Yemen.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran supports the beginning of Yemeni-Yemeni talks with the participation of all parties [to the conflict] in the country and believes that the Yemeni groups and parties can reach a UN-supervised lasting agreement,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a phone conversation with the UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed on Sunday.

“Iran supports the United Nations’ efforts in this regard,” the Iranian official added.

He stressed the importance of accelerating the delivery of humanitarian aid, particularly food and medication, to the oppressed Yemeni people as a temporary ceasefire announced by Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly violated.

Amir-Abdollahian urged the UN and relief organizations to draw up a comprehensive and immediate plan to send aid to Yemen in a bid to prevent the deterioration of humanitarian crisis in the impoverished Arab state.

The UN envoy, for his part, said the world body has made efforts for the extension of the truce, which expires later on Sunday, in Yemen. He also called for Yemeni-Yemeni talks to end the war in the country.

Sheikh Ahmed added that the UN has adopted effective measures to send relief aid to people in the war-wracked country.

The development came as an Iranian cargo vessel, carrying 2,500 tons of humanitarian supplies to war-torn Yemen, arrived in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday.

The ship, dubbed Nejat (Rescue), is scheduled to arrive in the western Yemeni port city of Hudaydah on May 21. It set sail from Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas on May 11.

Saudi Arabia had blocked earlier Iranian aid deliveries to Yemen. Last month, it prevented two Iranian civilian planes from delivering medical aid and foodstuff to the impoverished people.

Riyadh started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 - without a UN mandate - in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which currently controls the capital, Sana’a, and major provinces, and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The Al Saud regime has failed to abide by the so-called ceasefire it announced on May 12, repeatedly carrying out deadly air raids against Yemen after the “truce” went into effect.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Johannes Van der Klaauw said on Friday that over 1,600 people have been killed and more than 6,200 injured in Yemen since conflict began there in late March.

He added that some 450,000 people have been displaced as a result of the continuing violence.

By Press TV