Iran’s Ambassador to Yemen Hassan Irloo died after contracting the coronavirus, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.
In a statement, the ministry said Hassan Irloo, representing Iran in the National Salvation Government of Yemen, was martyred because of the coronavirus infection.
The ministry noted that the late ambassador, who was a victim of chemical attacks during the Iraqi imposed war in the 1980s, had contracted the coronavirus during his mission in Yemen, according to Tasnim news agency.
Due to belated cooperation from certain countries, unfortunately the ambassador returned home in inappropriate conditions, the Foreign Ministry said, adding that he was martyred on Tuesday morning although all stages of treatment were provided to help him recover.
In a tweet on Saturday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said Irloo needed urgent medical attention days after contracting the infectious disease.
The spokesman had also expressed gratitude to the countries that helped the envoy’s transfer to his homeland for treatment, praising their assistance as “humanitarian act.”
Irloo officially began his diplomatic mission to Yemen in November 2020, in defiance of the United States’ anger at the two countries’ developing relations.
The United States added him to the list of its sanctions a month later.
The US has played a key role in Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen, which has caused the world’s worst humanitarian disaster in the impoverished Middle Eastern country.
Saudi Arabia launched a brutal war in March 2015 with the goal of bringing former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi’s government back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah resistance movement.
Source: Iranian media
