While battles continue on the fronts, statements and contacts calling for an end to the conflict in Yemen continue, Iran has expressed its readiness for dialogue with Saudi Arabia and other neighboring countries on regional issues, while the US State Department addressed a speech to the Houthi group.

Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said that his country welcomes dialogue with Saudi Arabia on regional files, stressing that Western countries are not interested in regional affairs.

Zarif added that Iran's hand is extended to neighboring countries, and that Tehran welcomes any Qatari or Kuwaiti efforts to activate regional dialogue in the region.

He pointed out that the Iranian initiative to solve the Yemeni crisis is still the only one capable of solving it, he said.

In 2015, Iran offered an initiative that it said aimed to solve the crisis in Yemen, but it faced rejection from several parties, most notably the Yemeni government.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said two months ago that the initiative, which is based on stopping the war, ending the siege, and starting a Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue, is still on the table as a basic solution.

Griffiths in Tehran

 In the same context, the UN envoy to Yemen - Martin Griffiths - is holding talks in Tehran with Iranian officials aimed at supporting a ceasefire in Yemen.

A statement from Griffiths’s office said that the talks will also include ways to implement urgent humanitarian measures and resume the political process.

Griffiths is scheduled to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif and a number of Iranian officials.

In a special statement to Al-Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that Griffiths will discuss the Yemeni crisis file with Iranian officials.

The Saudi-Emirati coalition repeatedly launches raids on Houthi sites in Sanaa (Reuters)

It is time to end the conflict

In Washington, the US State Department stressed that the time has come to find an end to the ongoing conflict in Yemen.

"We are deeply concerned about the continuation of Houthi attacks," she said in a statement, calling on the group to "immediately stop attacks against civilians in Saudi Arabia."

"We call on the Houthis to stop any new military attacks inside Yemen," the statement said, adding, "We urge the Houthis to refrain from carrying out destabilizing actions."

 However, Yemeni Minister of Information - Muammar Al-Eryani - said in tweets on Twitter that Washington's retreat from designating the Houthis as a terrorist organization sends the wrong signals to the Houthis and Iran’s successors to continue their crimes against civilians, and the policies of spreading chaos and terrorism in the region.

He added that international parties and organizations pressed to stop the military operations to restore the city of Hodeidah under the pretext of the humanitarian situation, and the government responded to affirm its keenness for peace, and that the same thing happened with the National Army approaching Sanaa on the fronts of Nehm and Sarawah, so the international community intervened to stop the army's progress and pledged to organize talks.

The Yemeni minister explained that these facts confirm that canceling the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization contributes to complicating the Yemeni crisis, prolonging the coup, and exacerbating the human suffering caused by the war, and makes peace far away.

The Yemen war left the worst humanitarian crisis in the world (Anatolia)

European statement

In addition, a European Union delegation concluded a visit to the temporary Yemeni capital, Aden, during which it held meetings with government officials.

The EU mission to Yemen said - in a statement - that the goal of the European Union in Yemen is to address urgent humanitarian needs and advance comprehensive economic development.

The statement also called on all parties to ensure unimpeded access to aid.

Hot fronts


On the ground, the Yemeni Ministry of Defense said that a missile fired by the Houthis at the city of Marib, on Sunday, killed 3 civilians and wounded 3, of varying degrees.

She added that the ground defenses of the National Army managed to shoot down and destroy an explosive-laden drone, and stated that it was targeting the place where the missile landed during the operations of treating the wounded and recovering the victims.

Yemeni military sources said that violent clashes are taking place in areas west of the Ma'rib Governorate, following an attack by Houthi gunmen on National Army positions.

A local medical source reported to Al-Jazeera that at least 7 members of the National Army were killed in the fighting, while the Houthi death toll was not known.

The Army Media Center stated - in a statement - that government forces repelled a Houthi attack in the Sirwah area and left a number of them dead or wounded, and coalition aircraft also targeted Houthi sites and reinforcements, resulting in casualties and destruction of vehicles.

The Houthi group did not comment on those battles.

Earlier, the Saudi Press Agency reported that the defenses in the kingdom destroyed a total of 4 booby-trapped aircraft launched by the Houthis towards Saudi territory.

The agency stated that the booby-trapped aircraft were targeting civilian sites in the southern region.