United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg held telephone talks on Tuesday with the Iranian Foreign Minister's senior advisor, Ali Asghar Khaji, on "the need to maintain an environment conducive to constructive dialogue" in Yemen.
In a tweet, his office said they also discussed the need to maintain "concerted regional support to peace efforts in Yemen."
The telephone call was held ahead of a briefing by Grundberg before the UN Security Council on the latest peace efforts in Yemen.
Days earlier, the envoy had urged maximum restraint by all parties involved in Yemen and warned of an increasingly uncertain situation in the region.
The envoy "notes with serious concern the increasingly precarious regional context, and its adverse impact on peace efforts in Yemen and stability and security in the region," he said in a statement on Saturday.
He reiterated the Secretary-General’s call for all involved to avoid actions that would worsen the situation in Yemen, escalate the threat to maritime trade routes, or further fuel regional tensions at this critical time.
He stressed the need to protect Yemeni civilians, and to safeguard the progress of peace efforts since the truce of April 2022.
This includes the recent commitments by the parties in December 2023 and the ongoing discussions around a UN Roadmap that would operationalize a nationwide ceasefire, resume an inclusive political process under UN auspices, and address key priorities for the benefit of the Yemeni people.
He urged "all involved to exercise maximum restraint and to prioritize diplomatic channels over military options," calling for de-escalation
On Tuesday, US forces led a new strike against the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen who have in recent months launched dozens of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
The Houthis say their attacks on ships are a response to Israel's military operations in Gaza in the aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Meanwhile, a senior White House official said Tuesday that addressing the ongoing threat by the Houthis on commercial vessels in the Red Sea is an "all hands on deck" problem that the US and allies must address together to minimize impact on the global economy.
"How long this goes on and how bad it gets comes down not just to the decisions of the countries in the coalition that took strikes last week," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during an appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
