Iran offers to treat injured from Yemen funeral attack

Iran on Sunday requested help from the United Nations to send a plane to Yemen to evacuate the wounded from deadly air strikes on a funeral ceremony.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed "shock and indignation" over the air strikes that killed more than 140 mourners and wounded at least 525 on Saturday.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the attack, one of the deadliest since it launched a military campaign against the Shia rebels in March 2015.

"Not only Saudi Arabia, but also those who have supported the aggression by the Saudi-led coalition against Yemeni people should be held accountable for the war crimes perpetrated in Yemen over the past year and a half," Zarif wrote in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Zarif asked Ban to help the Iranian Red Crescent make arrangements to send a plane with humanitarian supplies to Sanaa and to evacuate the wounded for treatment in hospitals in Iran.

"In view of the gravity of the situation in Yemen and the devastation caused by the attacks against the funeral hall, the Iranian Red Crescent Society is proposing to arrange for humanitarian assistance, including medical supplies, to the Yemeni people and evacuating the injured to hospitals in Iran," wrote Zarif.

Ban earlier condemned the attack and called for an investigation of the air strikes.