The Iranian ambassador to Yeman was not hurt in Wednesday's explosion in the capital Sanaa, the Foreign Ministry said.

"According to the latest information, all of the Iranian embassy staff in Yemen are all right," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said.

A powerful car bomb hit the residence of the Iranian ambassador to Yemen on Wednesday morning, killing at least three people and wounding 17 others, some in critical conditions.

The house of the Iranian ambassador was seriously damaged, but the ambassador was not inside when the bomb went off.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"It was not an important issue," Afkham said, but "the details of the incident are under investigation."

After a long delay of dispatching an ambassador to Yemen, Iran sent its envoy, Hossein Niknam, to Sanaa last week, signaling Iran's "political will" to establish relations with the Arab state, the Iranian spokeswoman said, also hoping that Sanaa could play its part in improving the bilateral relations.

Iranian diplomats were frequently targeted by militants in Yemen. In January, an Iranian diplomat was shot dead by unknown gunmen near the residence of the Iranian ambassador in Sanaa, while the Yemen-based AQAP still holds captive another Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in July 2013.

The Yemeni government accuses Iran of meddling in its domestic affairs of Yemen, while some Sunni tribes blame Iran of supporting the Shiite Houthi group in provoking sectarian conflicts. Iran and the Houthi group have denied such accusations. Endit

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