Abdullah al-Alimi, member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), has voiced hope for the rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh would lead to Iran stopping any malign involvement in Yemen.
Al-Alimi’s statement was made during a meeting he had with the US ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin.
The PLC member reaffirmed to Fagin that Yemeni authorities are determined to find a sustainable and comprehensive peace based on principal references.
In his meeting with Fagin, al-Alimi touched on developments in Yemen’s political, economic and security situation. He also recalled PLC efforts to address all issues and alleviate the human suffering caused by insurgent Houthi militias.
The PLC had also ordered the Yemeni government to implement a package of economic reforms aimed at enhancing revenues and rationalizing expenditures.
According to state-owned Saba News Agency, Al-Alimi praised US support provided to Yemen in various fields.
This includes Washington’s $444 million pledge at a donors’ conference in Geneva, as well as its role in combating smuggling and stopping the flow of Iranian arms shipments to Yemen.
While Houthis continue to reject UN and international efforts aimed at renewing and expanding the truce and begin negotiations to end the coup in Yemen, al-Alimi expressed the PLC’s aspiration for more pressure on the insurgency militia to bring about peace and end the war.
Responding to a question on whether the Saudi-Iranian agreement will reflect positively on the Yemeni crisis, Al-Alimi said he hopes that the agreement to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries will be a prelude to stopping bad Iranian interference in Yemen.
He also hoped that the rapprochement would motivate Houthis to stop the war and reach a permanent and comprehensive peace agreement based on ending the coup, restoring the state, and resuming the political process.
The Yemeni government had welcomed the China-brokered agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran but said that it would continue to cautiously deal with the regime in Tehran until it changed its behavior regarding interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
