(tasnim) -- “Iran has tried to establish contacts with the Myanmar government via its accredited ambassador to Thailand in a bid to pave the ground for sending Iran’s humanitarian aid to Rohingya Muslims by Red Crescent Society,” Bahram Qassemi said on Friday.

“Unfortunately” he added “the government of Myanmar has not issued the necessary permission for the dispatch of humanitarian aid despite diplomatic contacts.”

Speaking to ISNA, Qassemi said that Iranian embassy in Bangladesh has also made contacts with the Dhaka to prepare the ground for sending humanitarian aid to the Rohingya refugees.

Qassemi further noted that Tehran will keep up its diplomatic efforts to send aids and the foreign ministry’s delegation will be in Myanmar if the permission is received.

Meantime, the Iranian Permanent Mission to the UN has been also ordered to pursue the issue of Rohingya Muslims in talks with the international body officials and his counterparts from Muslims nations, he noted.

The spokesman referred to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif diplomatic efforts and said, Islamic Republic is determined to help the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

The Rohingya have long faced severe discrimination and were the targets of violence in 2012 that killed hundreds and drove about 140,000 people from their homes to camps for the internally displaced.

Over the past days, intensifying clashes between security forces and insurgents in western Myanmar have sent about 270,000 terrified civilians scrambling toward the Bangladesh border in a desperate search for refuge.

A United Nations report in February said the military crackdown on the Rohingya had led to gang rape, the killing of hundreds of civilians and the forced displacement of people.