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Iran's mission to the United Nations says a breakthrough agreement with Saudi Arabia restoring bilateral relations will help bring a political settlement to Yemen's yearslong war, Iranian state media reported on Sunday. Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies after seven years of tensions that brought the two regional powerhouses to the brink of conflict and fuelled tensions across the region. Soon after exploding in 2014, Yemen's conflict turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia, which led a military coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognized government, and Iran, which has aided the country's Houthi rebels. Iran has long been accused by western governments and U.N. experts of providing weapons to the Houthis. Western militaries have repeatedly intercepted Yemen-bound ships carrying Iranian weapons in the Red Sea. Tehran has denied the accusations of arming the Houthis. China mediated the major diplomatic ...
Yemen's internationally recognized government signed a deal with the Arab Monetary Fund on Sunday, state media said, paving the way for the Saudi-backed administration to receive USD 1 billion of economic aid. The Abu Dhabi-based fund, a sub-organization of the 22-member Arab League, will pay out the $1 billion program from 2022 to 2025. The economic deal aims to help the Yemeni government establish monetary and fiscal stability through wide-ranging economic reforms, Saba news agency said. Yemen's civil war, which is entering its eighth year, has decimated the country's economy and pushed half of the population to the brink of famine. More than 150,000 people have been killed in the conflict, including over 14,500 civilians. On average food is 60% more expensive than it was last year, largely due to the war in Ukraine that has cut off the country's critical wheat imports from Eastern Europe. The conflict began in 2014 when the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa
The UN chief is strongly urging Yemen's warring parties to not only renew but expand a truce that expires on Sunday, saying it has brought the longest period of relative calm since the conflict began in 2014. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the internationally recognised government and Houthi rebels should prioritise the national interests of the Yemeni people and choose peace for good. His statement followed a stark warning on Tuesday from the UN envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, that the risk of a return to fighting is real. Yemen's brutal civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government to power. The conflict has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and over the years turned into a regional proxy war between Saudi Arabia, which backs the government