Islam Times - Tehran sending team to Yemen to pursue diplomat abduction

Islam Times - An Iranian deputy foreign minister says a task force has been set up and will be dispatched to Yemen to follow up on the case of the Iranian diplomat recently kidnapped in the country.

A delegation headed by the ministry’s Director General for Iranian Expatriates’ Affairs Seyyed Kazem Sajjadi is due to travel to Yemen to pursue the case, said Hassan Qashqavi.

The latest reports from Yemen indicate the abducted diplomat is in good health, Qashqavi noted.

He further expressed hope that the investigation by the delegation would yield good results, and added that Iranian Embassy staff in Sana’a will contribute to the follow-up probe as well.

If need be, Qashqavi said, the Foreign Ministry will seek the cooperation of MPs and other deputy foreign ministers in pursuing the matter.

Nour Ahmad Nikbakht, an administrative staff member of the Iranian Embassy in Sana’a, was on his way to work from his home in the city’s diplomatic quarter on July 21 when unidentified gunmen blocked the road, forced him out of his vehicle and abducted him.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has already summoned the Yemeni chargé d'affaires twice to express Tehran's grave concern over the fate of the diplomat and to remind Sana’a that it is responsible for Nikbakht’s safety.