Iran to dispatch 2 aid ships to Yemen

Cargo vessel named Salvation Ship comprises 2500 tons of humanitarian aid including 1200 tons of rice, 700 tons of flour, 400 tons of canned food, 50 tons of medical items, 50 tons of bottled water, 2000 blankets, 1000 tents and 1000 series of kitchen utensils.

The ship with 60 passengers including 15 medical personnel, 20 reporters and international pacifists, 5 bodyguards and 20 crew members will set sail for Yemen Sunday at 19 PM Tehran time.

According to IRCS officials, necessary coordination has been ensured with the International Federation of Red Cross and the Red Crescent societies of Oman, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia.

Deputy of ValFajr Shipping Company Captain Majid Sajdeh said on Sunday another cargo ship named Iran Shahed will set sail for Yemen in the near future.

"The 2100 tons of contribution includes rice, flour, tents, canned food and medicine for the crisis-hit people in Yemen," he said.

Captain Sajdeh maintained that as soon as the required preparations are made by related officials the ship containing the Iranian nation's humanitarian aids will leave for Yemen's coasts.

Earlier on Sunday IRCS Secretary General Ali Asghar Ahmadi said that IRCS had dispatched relief aid to people in Yemen through Oman as Riyadh had blocked Iran's humanitarian aid delivery to the war-wracked country.

On April 28, Saudi Arabia forced an Iranian cargo plane carrying medical aid and food stuff for crisis-hit people in Yemen to return.

The development came less than a week after Saudi warplanes intercepted another Iranian airplane, carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen, and prevented it from entering the Yemeni airspace on April 22.

Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 and without a UN mandate in a bid to undermine the popular movement and to restore power to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.

According to the latest UN figures, the Saudi military campaign has so far claimed the lives of over 1,400 people and injured close to 6,000 people, roughly half of whom have been civilians.