Aden / Muhammad al-Samai / Anadolu

According to statements by Transport Minister Mohsen al-Omari, as reported by state television

The incident comes a week after another Iranian plane was prevented from landing at the airport controlled by the Houthi group.

The Yemeni government announced it prevented an Iranian plane from completing its journey to Sanaa International Airport, which is under the control of the Houthi group, and affirmed its adherence to the decision to ban any flights that do not obtain authorized permits.

State-run TV channel 'Yemen' quoted Transport Minister Mohsen al-Omari on Saturday evening as saying that the competent authorities 'prevented a plane belonging to Iran's Mahan Air from completing its flight to Sanaa and forced it to return from Omani airspace before reaching the Yemeni capital.'

He explained that the decision came 'because the flight did not go through official channels and procedures,' without providing further details.

Neither the Houthi group nor Iranian authorities immediately commented on the Yemeni minister's statements.

This comes days after the Yemeni government announced preventing another Iranian plane from landing at Sanaa airport, as part of its tightening of measures to not allow any aircraft to enter Yemeni airspace or airports without obtaining the necessary permits from the legitimate authorities.

These developments come against the backdrop of an escalating crisis between the Yemeni government and the Iran-backed Houthi group over Mahan Air flights.

Last week, the Yemeni Ministry of Defense announced targeting the runway of Sanaa airport to prevent an Iranian plane coming from Tehran from landing.

In contrast, the Minister of Transport of the internationally unrecognized Houthi government, Muhammad Ayyash, reported 'the landing of the Iranian plane on the homeland's soil,' according to the group's Al-Masirah channel.

He added that the plane was carrying 'a number of patients and stranded individuals accompanied by the official Houthi delegation' participating in the funeral ceremony of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli strike on February 28, 2026.

Ayyash did not specify the plane's landing location, but activists close to the group circulated videos on the American company X platform that they said documented the plane landing at Hodeidah airport in western Yemen and passengers disembarking.

Following the incident, the head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, affirmed that his country would not allow the violation of its airspace or the imposition of a fait accompli at Sanaa airport or any other airport, announcing his directives not to expand the confrontation to avoid dragging Yemen into a regional conflict.

On July 3, the Yemeni government condemned what it said was Iran sending a Mahan Air plane to Sanaa to transport a Houthi delegation from the Yemeni capital to Tehran, considering the step a violation of approved procedures.

That was the first announced Iranian flight to arrive at Sanaa airport in about ten years, according to Yemeni media.