Iran deputy FM due in Yemen over abducted diplomat

A senior Iranian official says he will soon travel to Yemen to pursue the case of an Iranian diplomat abducted in the Arab country last July, AVA Diplomatic reports.Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday that kidnapped Nour Ahmad Nikbakht is in good health and efforts are underway to secure his release.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary and Iranian Expatriates Affairs Hassan Qashqavi said on Saturday that Yemeni authorities have identified the kidnappers of Nikbakht and that “his whereabouts and other details are also being investigated.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif held a phone conversation with his Yemeni counterpart Abu Bakr Abdullah al-Qirbi last December, calling on Sana’a to utilize all means at its disposal to secure the safe return of the Iranian diplomat.

On February 2, Yemeni charge d’affaires to Tehran Abdullah Ali al-Seri said Nikbakht is alive and in good health, emphasizing that Yemen’s Interior Ministry and security forces are responsible for investigating his fate.

Nikbakht was on his way to work from his home in the diplomatic quarter of Sana’a on July 21, 2013, when unidentified gunmen blocked the road, forced him out of his vehicle and abducted him.

In late January, a decapitated body was found in central Yemen which was believed to belong to Nikbakht. However, Tehran denied reports that the beheaded body was the Iranian diplomat’s.