Yemeni Supreme Political Council Chief Mahdi al-Mashat offered his felicitations to the Yemeni people over the 34th anniversary of Yemeni Unity Day, which is observed on May 22 of every year, underlining the importance of revisiting this anniversary so as to revive the sentiments of fraternity and quashing all the reasons for hatred and rifts.

May 22 did not produce unity, it merely revealed it, "for unity is a quintessential part of our religion and values," al-Mashat stressed.

Al-Mashat directed the government to postpone all Unity Day festivities until after the mourning over President Raisi was over, calling for the Yemeni people to shoulder with their Iranian brethren the feelings of loss, as it is a "duty toward an Islamic nation that esteems our people and country and shoulders with the Islamic world and its fighters in Palestine all their worries and despair," he said.

The Yemeni government has officially declared that Sunday would be the official Unity Day holiday after it was supposed to be observed on Wednesday.

Yemeni Unity Day has never been postponed despite international and local crises and pressures on Sanaa from domestic and foreign parties.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and accompanying officials have passed away in the tragic helicopter crash in Iran's East Azerbaijan Province, according to an official statement by Iranian state media.

After locating the helicopter carrying the Iranian President and accompanying officials on the morning of May 20, Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) issued a preliminary statement noting that there was "no sign of life" found near the wreckage locations.

This announcement came over 16 hours after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps reported they had lost contact with the helicopter carrying the officials. Since then, at least 73 rapid response and rescue teams from the provinces of East Azarbaijan, Tehran, Alborz, Ardabil, Zanjan, and West Azarbaijan were involved in the search and rescue operations led by the Iranian RCS.

According to Iranian state media, the President's helicopter crashed against a mountaintop in the Varzaqan region on May 19 while returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran's border with the Azerbaijan Republic. Iranian state TV mentioned that the helicopter was one of three carrying Raisi and his accompanying delegation of senior officials, which also included Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the Friday Prayer Imam of Tabriz, among other officials.

"Upon observing this holiday on a yearly basis, we must revive our sentiments of fraternity, amity, forgiveness, co-existence, and cooperation amongst ourselves," al-Mashat stressed. "We must not allow our political rifts, no matter how vast, to erase our united Yemeni identity."

"We must not allow destructive ideas and narrow-minded projects to set our country adrift," he added. "Unjust practices and grave mistakes have occurred against our people in the south and in the north, alike, but it is a sin to hold unity responsible for the mistakes of the defunct regime."

Al-Mashat then called on the United States and the United Kingdom to immediately stop the aggression on Gaza and cease their aggression on Yemen, adding that "America and Britain must realize that the aggression on Gaza and Yemen represents a threat to international peace and security and jeopardizes their interests." 

He called on the international community and the United Nations to remove resolutions and titles that obstruct peace in Yemen and to play a positive role in the process toward peace.