article_snippet.sent: For Tehran and Tehran regional allies -- including the Houthi movement in Yemen -- Saudi Arabia actions are in defense of a retrogressive status quo order that is no longer tenable.
article_snippet.sent: Iran provides financial support, weapons, training and intelligence to Houthis," Gerald Feierstein, a U.S. State Department official and former Yemen ambassador, told a Congressional hearing last week.
article_snippet.sent: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has provided a four-point plan: to get a ceasefire, to encourage the provision of humanitarian aid, to promote political dialogue among warring Yemeni parties, and to achieve the formation of an inclusive government.
article_snippet.sent: But the Iranian proposal also asks for an end to Saudi airstrikes.
article_snippet.sent: Meanwhile, the Houthi leadership has welcomed the Iranian proposal.
article_snippet.sent: Not only do the Saudis not have any faith in any Iranian-drafted political package that is welcomed by the Houthis, but Riyadh believes that the international disposition favors it.
article_snippet.sent: Saudi Arabia was elated by the U.N. Security Council vote on 14 April that condemned the Houthi movement.
article_snippet.sent: Instead, Islamabad has asked Iran to push the Houthis for a political compromise that Riyadh can live with.
article_snippet.sent: The Turks were enthusiastic at first about stopping the Houthis -- but in his visit to Tehran last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has prioritized Iranian-Turkish trade relations over rivalry in Yemen, and emphasized a political solution for the Yemeni conflict.
article_snippet.sent: The Egyptians and the Jordanians are still supportive of Saudi efforts and claim publicly to be open to the idea of deploying military forces to assist Riyadh in Yemen.
article_snippet.sent: A political compromise that both Riyadh and Tehran and their respective Yemeni allies can live with seems to be the only option that is not cataclysmic.