Press TV - Iran has hailed preliminary deals between Yemeni parties as "promising", expressing hope that they would prepare the ground for the next round of talks in order to reach a final agreement.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Thursday welcomed "positive confidence-building measures" taken by the warring groups under the supervision of UN chief Antonio Guterres in Sweden.

Guterres said Thursday the Yemeni parties had reached an agreement on a ceasefire in the Red Sea port city of Hudaydah, bringing the first round of the talks to a close.

The two sides agreed that the world body would play a “leading role” in Hudaydah which is currently controlled by the Houthis.

Qassemi referred to the deal on Hudaydah as a very important one, and praised the Yemeni parties for discerning the catastrophic situation which the impoverished country is going through.

“The agreement shows that the Yemeni groups participating in the talks have carefully and correctly understood the catastrophic situation of the innocent people of Yemen, and … have preferred the continued dispatch of humanitarian aid to their own interests,” he noted.

He also expressed hope that the agreements would be implemented within the specified framework, paving the way for holding the next round of talks in the near future with the aim of clinching a final deal.

Qassemi highlighted the “constructive” role played by the Islamic Republic of Iran in facilitating the Yemeni-Yemeni talks in Sweden, saying Tehran made the contribution as part of its responsible approach toward regional crises.

“Iran still believes that the final solution to the Yemen crisis lies in the cessation of war and bloodshed and the continuation of Yemeni-Yemeni talks, as stipulated in the four-point plan earlier proposed by the Iranian foreign minister,” Qassemi added.


I said this on the crisis in Yemen in April 2015. Today, after untold human suffering & war crimes by the Saudi coalition & its U.S. accomplices, & efforts to whitewash their crimes with absurd allegations against Iran, our four-point plan still remains the only viable option. https://t.co/7CqVTIduF9



— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) November 30, 2018

In April 2015, the Iranian foreign minister submitted a four-point peace plan for Yemen to the United Nations in an attempt to end the bloodshed in the Arab country.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.