Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a meeting with Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos expressed regret over the slow trend of the delivery of relief aids to the war-stricken Yemeni people.
During the meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, both sides discussed ways of providing the people of Yemen with relief aid, and stressed expediting the process.
Zarif referred to repeated violations of the cease-fire in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition, and said that as a result, rapid and complete dispatch of aid has been troubled.
Denouncing the current trend of the international relief aids to Yemen, he added, "Implementation of the UN Security Council's resolution shouldn't hamper the process."
He also suggested establishing safe areas in Yemen where urgent humanitarian aid could be sent.
Amos, for her part, called for dispatching humanitarian aid to Yemen with fewer problems, and suggested sending the aid to areas outside Yemen and later transferring them into the country.
In relevant remarks yesterday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian announced that the first plane carrying Iran's aid, including foodstuff, will land in Djibouti, the UN-opted country for sending humanitarian aid to Yemen, on Thursday.
Also earlier reports said that the Iranian cargo ship carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen would dock at a Djibouti port to be inspected by the United Nations.
The ship which was sent by the Iranian Red Crescent Society to Yemen on May 13, loaded with pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, will then head towards Yemen's al-Hudayda port after being inspected.
IRCS Managing Director Seyed Amir Mohsen Ziyaee announced Tuesday that the IRCS would send another ship with relief aid to Yemen soon.
"A 12,000-ton shipment of Iran's relief aids is being prepared to be dispatched to Yemen," Ziyaee said.
He noted that IRCS cargo planes carrying Iran' food aid will be dispatched to Djibouti where a relief aid center is set up in the coming days, and said, "Furthermore, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plans to set up a center in Salalah, Oman, in the coming days and as soon as it becomes ready, Iran's pharmaceutical aid will be sent (to Oman) through air."
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.
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 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."
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