Iran’s envoy to Yemen has died of COVID-19 after being repatriated last week, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, blaming unnamed countries for his delayed transfer from the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
The ambassador, Hasan Irlu, “was evacuated in poor condition due to delayed cooperation from certain countries,” ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told state media.
The spokesman appeared to be referring to Saudi Arabia, which along with Iraq helped in Irlu’s transfer on board an Iraqi plane, according to a Houthi spokesman.
A Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement for more than six years has imposed a sea and air blockade on areas the group controls.
The Saudi government media office CIC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Saudi Arabia and Iran, the region’s Sunni Muslim and Shi’ite powerhouses, launched direct talks this year at a time when global powers are trying to salvage a nuclear pact with Tehran and as U.N.-led efforts to end the Yemen war stall.
Khatibzadeh honoured Irlu as a “martyr” and said he was a survivor of chemical attacks in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Last December, the U.S. Treasury blacklisted Irlu and described him as an official of Iran’s elite Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and a pillar of Iranian efforts to project power in Yemen, Syria and elsewhere.
“We have lost a great friend,” Houthi deputy foreign minister Hussein al-Ezzi said, offering condolences on Twitter.
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Two Yemeni political sources close to the movement and a foreign source said Irlu had recently kept a low profile due to illness and political tension. The Yemeni sources said some Houthi leaders had resented perceived “interference” by Irlu.
A Houthi spokesman did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
According to a report, Iran said on Tuesday its envoy to Yemen’s Houthi movement has died of COVID-19 after being repatriated last week, blaming Saudi Arabia for delaying his departure from the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Saudi Arabia and Iraq helped to transfer ambassador Hasan Irlu on board an Iraqi plane, according to a Houthi spokesman.
“We had to try for a few days to get permission…to send a plane from Iran or another country to take him quickly to a well-equipped hospital in Iran, but unfortunately the Saudi side decided too late and some Saudi bodies procrastinated,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said.
A Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement for more than six years has imposed a sea and air blockade on areas the group controls.
The Saudi government media office CIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia and Iran, the region’s Sunni Muslim and Shia powerhouses, launched direct talks this year at a time when global powers are trying to salvage a nuclear pact with Tehran and as UN-led efforts to end the Yemen war stall.
“We will formally voice our protest in accordance with international conventions, and we hope that Yemen will be able to move soon… towards a political solution and get out of this war and severe humanitarian siege,” Amirabdollahian told Iranian media.
Last December, the US Treasury blacklisted Irlu and described him as an official of Iran’s elite Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and a pillar of Iranian efforts to project power in Yemen, Syria and elsewhere.
“We have lost a great friend,” Houthi deputy foreign minister Hussein al-Ezzi said on Twitter.
Two Yemeni political sources and a foreign source said Irlu had recently kept a low profile due to illness and political tension.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis after the movement ousted the internationally recognised government from Sanaa.
