Cairo: The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said on Tuesday it evacuated a crew member for medical reasons from a “suspect” Iranian ship northwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah port after Saudi Arabia received a request for help from Iran.

A coalition statement said the Iranian crew member was transported by Medivac helicopter from the Iranian vessel Savis to a military hospital in the Saudi city of Jizan along the border with Yemen.

The crew member was “subjected to a serious injury and his condition deteriorated on board the ship” which was 95 nautical miles northwest of the Red Sea port, the statement quoted coalition spokesman Colonel Turki Al Malki as saying without specifying the cause of the injury.

He said the kingdom had received the request from the Iranian charge d’affaires in the Iranian delegation to the United Nations.

Al Malki said the assistance was provided “despite the threat represented by this suspect vessel...the hostile acts it carries out against coalition forces and the interests of the Yemeni people and its continued threats to maritime lanes and global trade on the Red Sea”.

In early May, Saudi Arabia’s coast guard towed an Iranian oil tanker with engine trouble off the coast of Jeddah in the Red Sea.