TEHRAN – Following the United States' decision to impose sanctions on Iran’s ambassador to Yemen, the Iranian envoy thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for imposing sanctions on him.

“I thank the gambler Trump, who in the last days of his presidency, insists on showing the true face of the U.S. government. Of course, towards the goal of freeing the nations of the region from the Zionism & U.S., We are not afraid of sanctions and martyrdom, but we are proud of it,” Hasan Irlou, the Iranian ambassador to Sanaa, said in a tweet on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Irlou.

Irlou has recently been appointed as Iran’s ambassador to Yemen. In early November, he submitted his credentials to Mahdi al-Mashat, the president of the Supreme Political Council of Yemen. Since then he was in the U.S. and its regional allies’ crosshairs.

Upon his arrival in Sanaa, the ambassador created a Twitter account.  Twitter blocked the ambassador’s account without providing any explanation. Irlou said he did not make any remarks in violation of Twitter rules, adding that Twitter moved to delete his account under the pressure of the Saudi lobby. The ambassador created a new account on Twitter after his previous account was deleted.

“Unfortunately, my first Twitter account was blocked without any justification, and while I did not make any mistake. According to the threats and information that I received from Saudi Arabia, the Saudi lobby has bought Twitter to suppress the voice of righteousness and the voice of their opponents,” tweeted Irlou, using his new Twitter account.

The appointment of Irlou sparked a wave of speculation among some regional players who have seen the appointment of the new ambassador as a step toward strengthening ties between Tehran and Sanaa.

“The [Iranian] ambassador’s return [to Yemen] posed a strong challenge to them that they could not justify, but rather failed to do so,” the ambassador said of these players without naming them.

He added, “They are trying, through their media, to strip the ambassador of his diplomatic status. They use disinformation and lies, and they say that Sanaa is Iran's tool.”

Irlou said they have spent their money to promote extremist projects. The ambassador also pointed to the United States presidential election and its impact on the war in Yemen.

On Wednesday, the ambassador once again castigated the U.S. for its role in the Yemen war, saying that the Saudi siege against the war-torn Arab country is in fact a policy of the U.S.

“The U.S. role is prominent in the aggression against the peoples of the region. Especially against the Yemenis. What is happening in the Saudi siege & aggression against Yemen is merely the implementation of the American Zionist policies,” tweeted Irlou.

On Tuesday, the U.S. slapped sanctions on the ambassador in accordance with a “counterterrorism” executive order, claiming that Irlou is “an official in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).”

The sanctions against Irlou came after the U.S. designated Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Iraj Masjedi, on October 22, 2020.

SM/PA