TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Senior advisor to Iran’s foreign minister in political affairs Hussein Jaberi Ansari and UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Partnerships in the Middle East and Central Asia Rashid Khalikov have discussed the Yemen crisis in Tehran.
Their talks focused on humanitarian cooperation between Iran and the United Nations, especially on helping crisis-hit countries in the West Asia.
The two sides also discussed the tragic humanitarian situation in Yemen, and a forthcoming international summit on delivering aid to the impoverished country which is the target of Saudi airstrikes and embargoes for years.
Riyadh and its allies launched a brutal war against Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, and defeat Houthis.
After 3.5 years of deadly attacks, Saudi Arabia and its allies in the invasion have not achieved any of their objectives.
Yemen’s Houthi fighters announced on Monday they would cease drone and rocket attacks on Saudi Arabia, following an appeal by the United Nations.
If upheld, the move would constitute a concrete step towards de-escalating a conflict that has driven as many as 18 million Yemenis to the brink of famine.
It comes as the United Kingdom prepares to table a draft resolution at the UN demanding a ceasefire and roadmap to peace.
"After our contacts with the UN envoy and his request to stop drone and missile strikes ... We announce our initiative ... to halt missile and drone strikes on the countries of aggression," Muhammad Ali al-Houthi said in a statement.
The Houthi statement comes after intense efforts by UN envoy Martin Griffiths to bring Yemen’s warring parties to the negotiations table before the end of the year.
Houthi, head of the Higher Revolutionary Committee, tweeted that he hoped his group announce "readiness to suspend and halt all military operations".
He called on "all official Yemeni sides to issue directives to end launching missiles and drones against aggression countries... in order to deprive them of any reason to continue their aggression and siege".
The Houthis, he said, should be ready "to freeze and stop all military operations on all fronts" to achieve "a just and honorable peace".
Griffiths told the UN Security Council on Friday that Yemen’s warring parties had given "firm assurances” that they are committed to finding a peaceful resolution to the three-and-a-half-year conflict.
Houthi missiles have landed near the Saudi capital Riyadh and key facilities belonging to oil giant Aramco.
The fighters have also carried out attacks on major international airports in the UAE, such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi.