RIYADH — The
Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen on Wednesday rejected accusations that it
was slow to facilitate the evacuation from Sanaa of an Iranian diplomat who
later died of coronavirus.
اضافة اعلان
The Islamic republic's envoy to
Yemen,
Hassan Eyrlou, died on Tuesday despite being flown out from the Huthi
rebel-held capital in a rare exemption from a Saudi-led air blockade.
But the foreign ministry in Tehran blamed
the "slow cooperation of certain countries" in facilitating
Saturday's evacuation for Eyrlou's death.
Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki on
Wednesday condemned Iran's "defamatory" comments.
"The coalition has facilitated and
provided all necessary transit permits as well as logistical support," he
said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
"It had facilitated the evacuation on
humanitarian grounds, and in recognition of the diplomatic mediation by Oman
and Iraq in less than 48 hours of reporting (Eyrlou's) health condition."
The diplomat served as ambassador to the
rebel-installed administration in Sanaa, which is recognized only by
Tehran.
Eyrlou was flown out of Sanaa on an Iraqi
flight after his rebel hosts secured authorization from the Saudi-led coalition,
which has enforced an air and sea blockade on rebel-held territory since August
2016.
Regional rivals Riyadh and Tehran support
opposite sides in several conflict zones across the region, including in Yemen.
Riyadh has said that its 2015 intervention
in Yemen in support of the beleaguered government was aimed at preventing an
Iranian ally taking power on its doorstep.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly
civilians, have been killed and millions displaced in Yemen's conflict, in what
the
UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
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