News - Middle East - Iran: Iran’s Ambassador to Yemen Hassan Irloo died after contracting the coronavirus, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced.

According to Tasnim News Agency, the Foreign Ministry released a statement on Tuesday saying Hassan Irloo, representing Iran in the National Salvation Government of Yemen, died 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.

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, the head of the National Delegation Mohammad Abdusalam revealed that under an Iranian-Saudi understanding through Baghdad, the Iranian ambassador to Sana’a flew back to Iran on an Iraqi plane due to his health conditions.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said Hassan Irloo needed urgent medical attention days after contracting the infectious disease.

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 the war in March 2015 with the goal of bringing former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi’s government back to power and crushing Ansarullah.