Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Friday called for an end to what it described as a Saudi blockade of Yemen and for the immediate resumption of negotiations. The statement, carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA service and reported by Associated Press, was Tehran’s first public response after Houthi forces entered Mokha.
Iran said Yemen’s sovereignty should be respected and offered to assist negotiations, positions that represent an official Iranian claim rather than an independently negotiated proposal. The Houthis’ movement toward Bab el-Mandeb gives Tehran’s regional ally more influence over a route used as an alternative to the constrained Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia has supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government and views Houthi attacks on its territory and shipping routes as direct security threats. Analysts cited by AP said the Yemen developments could strengthen Iran’s leverage in any future talks with the United States after more than six months of war.
Yemen’s prior ceasefire lowered violence but did not resolve control of territory, revenue, ports or the relationship between the Houthis and Saudi-backed factions. Iran provides political and military support to the Houthis, while the movement also pursues its own local aims within Yemen’s fragmented conflict. A public call for negotiations becomes operational only if the parties agree on mediators, conditions, access and a ceasefire framework.
At the edition deadline, Saudi Arabia had not publicly accepted Iran’s proposed terms, and no confirmed timetable, venue or mediator for renewed negotiations had been announced. The next documented developments will be a formal Saudi or Yemeni government response to Tehran’s statement and evidence of a ceasefire channel or, alternatively, further fighting around the Red Sea coast.