Iran has implied that its regional foe, Saudi Arabia, may have blocked efforts to save the life of its ambassador to Yemen, who contracted coronaviruses there, but was unable to be immediately transported for urgent medical treatment.
The ambassador, Hasan Irlu, was evacuated in poor condition due to the delay of cooperation from certain countries, according to a foreign ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, told state media.
The spokesman appeared to be referring to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh controls airspace around the Yemeni capital, Sana a capital.
The ambassador was flown out of Iraqi military aircraft after negotiations with Saudi Arabia by the Oman government.
There had been claims made by the US state department spokesman, Ned Price, that the ambassador's departure signalled a row between Iran and the leadership of the Houthis.
The announcement of the ambassador's death from Covid complications appears to dispel the rumours of serious political tensions between Iran and the Houthis, whom they have backed during Yemen's long conflict.
Asked on Monday to comment on the media reports of a rift between the ambassador and the Houthis, Price said: We do hope that the departure of the Iranian ambassador from Yemen is a sign that Yemenis understand the profoundly destabilizing role that Iran has been playing in their country for some time now. The Wall Street Journal reported that Riyadh had said there were no signs that the ambassador was seriously ill and that in return for allowing Irlu to leave Yemen, Riyadh had asked the Houthis to release a number of Saudis held by the militant group.
If the Saudis' objections to his evacuation were genuinely material to his death, the episode is unlikely to ease relations between the two countries that had been on a downward path.
Saudi Arabia opposes Iranian interference in support of the Houthis, a group that Saudi Arabia has been trying to contain for six years.
His death highlights the diplomatic impasse in Yemen, which was highlighted by Saudi air attacks on Sana a on Monday.
The Norwegian Refugee Council's country director for Yemen Erin Hutchinson said the attack on the city's airport will not change much for the millions of impoverished Yemenis who were already cut off from the rest of the world. Thousands of them die anonymously, waiting for life-saving medical flights promised years ago and never followed through. It should serve to open the eyes of the world to the madness that is punishing millions of civilians who have no say in this conflict. Brig Gen Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Arab Coalition, said that the coalition had mounted limited and legitimate attacks as a response to repeated Houthi drone strikes inside Saudi Arabia. He said that the airport was being used by the Houthis as a workshop to build drones and ballistic missiles with which they could hit Saudi Arabia.