“(Nour Ahmad) Nikbakht is in good health and we are very hopeful about his freedom,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for African and Middle Eastern Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on the sidelines of an international conference on regional developments and Iran’s foreign policy held in Tehran on Monday.
He added that serious efforts are underway to help release the abducted diplomat as soon as possible.
In July 2013, a group of armed men kidnapped the Iranian embassy staffer in Yemeni capital of Sana'a at gunpoint, and took him to an unknown location.
Amir Abdollahian said the diplomat’s health is important to Iran, adding that Tehran is seeking to make necessary measures to help release him unharmed.
No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction and the officials at the Iranian foreign ministry are working with Yemeni government to locate and release 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 body was the Iranian diplomat’s.