Iran disputes account of Iranian-American’s detention, release

An Iranian Mahan Air flight to Sanaa carried a Yemeni delegation and wounded Yemenis returning home after treatment in Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Videos posted on social media last week showed an Iranian Mahan Air passenger plane, en route from Tehran to Sana'a, landing at Al Hudaydah Airport in western Yemen after airstrikes hit the runway at Sana'a Airport.

“We do not believe there is an air embargo against Yemen, and we do not consider that interpretation of UN Security Council resolutions to be correct,” Baghaei said.

Baghaei said the delegation had travelled to Iran to attend a memorial ceremony for an Iranian leader and that the flight also carried Yemenis who had received medical treatment in Iran.

Iran has tested the United States' willingness for diplomacy on multiple occasions, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington remained open to a diplomatic solution.

"We have seen this readiness many times. We have tested it," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.

"When the United States speaks of diplomacy, what it means is imposition, intimidation, threats and sanctions. As long as it remains in that framework and seeks to impose its demands on the Iranian people, our response will be to defend Iran's dignity and national sovereignty."

People are ready to welcome any US force that attempted to seize Kharg Island, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday when asked about reported remarks by US President Donald Trump on the possibility of seizing the island.

"They will see the consequences," Baghaei said. "I think there are many people in those areas, and there are quite a few of them, who are waiting to welcome these individuals."

Iran's role in the Strait of Hormuz are not open to negotiation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Baghaei said Iran's position as a coastal state gave it “legal rights” in the strategic waterway regardless of any memorandum of understanding.

He said recent US and Israeli military attacks, along with what he described as support from some regional countries, underscored the need to prevent the waterway from being used against Iran's security interests.

Baghaei said Iran would work with Oman on measures related to the management and security of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran said it stopped implementing its commitments under a memorandum of understanding with the United States after Washington's actions, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei saying Tehran would only honor the agreement if the other side did the same.

"Iran remained committed to its obligations as long as the other side fulfilled its commitments," Baghaei said. "When the other side stopped implementing its commitments, we also said we would no longer implement ours."

Baghaei said an agreement retained its value only as long as both sides complied with their commitments, adding that otherwise it was "nothing more than a piece of paper."