Tehran will soon send a diplomatic delegation to Yemen to pursue the fate of the kidnapped Iranian diplomat, Nour-Ahmad Nikbakht, a senior Iranian foreign ministry official announced.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that a delegation from the Ministry will visit Yemen next Monday to follow up fate of Nikbakht.

"We know that Mr. Nikbakht is in good health," he told the Islamic republic news agency.

He added that the Foreign Ministry consulate and legal committee is travelling to Sana'a.

He appreciated efforts of the Yemen government and called for more efforts for release of the Iranian attaché.

Unknown assailants abducted the Iranian embassy staff member, Nikbakht, in Safr street in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, in late July.

Iranian charge d’affaires to Sana’a Morteza Abedi said that Nikbakht worked in the administrative section of the Iranian embassy in Sana'a.

A Yemeni security officer said in early August that al-Qaeda militants are suspected of having abducted the Iranian diplomat.

"There are suspicions that al-Qaeda is behind the kidnapping," AFP quoted a Yemeni security officer as saying.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi promised to launch a probe into the fate of the Iranian diplomat abducted in Sana'a.

In a telephone conversation with former Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi late in July, al-Qirbi said the Yemeni government would make every effort to release the Iranian diplomat.

He added that initial measures have been taken to identify the abductors.

 

News ID 185127