UN, Iran Discuss Humanitarian Aid for Yemen

Rasa - A UN official in a phone conversation with Iran’s UN Ambassador Gholam Ali Khoshroo on Thursday discussed Tehran’s offer to supply humanitarian aid to Yemeni people who are in dire situation under Saudi airstrikes.

News ID: 424442

Date: 20 October 2016 - 20:22

RNA - Khoshroo and the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien talked about Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s recent letter to the UN chief.

In his letter to Ban Ki-moon, Zarif notified the UN of Tehran’s readiness to supply humanitarian aid to the people of Yemen and transfer injured Yemenis to Iran for treatment after a ‘catastrophic’ Saudi airstrike that killed scores of civilians in Sana’a.

O'Brien said on Thursday that the bulk of international aid for Yemen is provided within the framework of UN-developed mechanism in coordination with the Saudi-led coalition forces.

Considering the past experiences, coordinating airlift support with the Saudi-led coalition for Yemen has been pretty hard and complicated, the UN official added.

For his part, the Iranian envoy warned that lack of immediate relief aid for war-torn Yemenis will increase the number of casualties.

Over 140 people were killed and over 500 wounded on October 8, when a Saudi aerial attack hit a community hall in southern Sana’a, where a funeral was being held.

The death toll was one of the largest in a single incident since March 2015, when the Riyadh regime launched a campaign to crush Houthis and their allies and restore power to resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

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