Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who is Sweden for the fourth round of Iran-Sweden political consultations, held meetings with senior Swedish officials in Stockholm on Wednesday.

In one of the meetings, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom voiced her country’s political will to maintain and boost interaction with Iran on bilateral, regional and international issues.

She also praised Tehran’s goodwill and support for the recent peace talks between Yemen’s warring sides, held in Sweden, stressing the need for Iran to continue support for the Yemeni-Yemeni negotiations.

Wallstrom further voiced Sweden’s support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying European states try to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after the US withdrawal from the deal and to pave the way for trade with Iran.

For his part, Araqchi hailed Sweden’s positive and constructive support for the JCPOA, urging EU states’ practical backing for the nuclear deal.

He also gave an assurance that Iran will push for success in the Yemeni peace negotiations, saying Tehran’s regional policy is based on establishment of stability and security and expansion of political initiatives.

Araqchi also held a 5-hour meeting with State Secretary to Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Annika Soder for the fourth round of Iran-Sweden political consultations.

The Iranian deputy minister also met Hans Walmark, chairman of the Swedish Parliament’s foreign affairs committee to discuss ways for closer parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.

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However, this round of negotiations after months of deliberations by Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen, began on Thursday between the two sides, aimed at ending nearly four years of brutal war in the country.
The Yemeni peace talks in Stockholm, Sweden, have provided conditions for Yemeni groups, in the form of a state of national salvation, to revive and restore the ignored rights of the Yemeni people.
The strategic port of Al-Hudaydah was the most important issue in the talks holding in Sweden’s capital. Saudi-led coalition has blocked Al-Hudaydah city, and after several months of aggressive attack by ground, air and sea, they failed to dominate the city of Al-Hudaydah, but the coalition has completely besieged the city.

The main demand of the Yemeni groups in the Stockholm negotiations is to determine the fate of Al-Hudaydah province and to remove the complete blockade. However, it seems that the Saudi Arabia’s mercenaries squabbling excesses in the repressive Yemeni government continues. And they do not want a logical solution to the issue of Al-Hudaydah.

The Yemeni government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, demanded that the Houthis fully withdraw from Al-Hudaydah. Yemen’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement, Mohammed Abdul-Salam announced that the city of Al-Hudaydah should be neutral zone and there will be no need for a military presence there if the battles stop.

Despite the fact that the Yemeni groups have gathered in Stockholm, Sweden, to end the crises in the country, the other side, representatives of Saud-back Hadi government, has always been trying to defeat the negotiations by seeking unreasonable conditions, and to block bilateral agreements.

Another key issue of the peace talks is the reopening the airport at the capital, Sanaa, which has been bombed several times. The airport is in Houthi’s territory but access to it is restricted by the Saudi-led coalition, which controls the air space. The Sanaa International Airport, controlled by the Yemeni forces, is now technically prepared to resume flights, but the Saudi-led military coalition won’t allow flights.

In the Swedish negotiations, the Yemeni government raised the precondition for issuance of a permit to reopen the Sanaa International Airport. The condition was that all flights from and to Sana’a airport be inspected and audited, however, the condition was opposed by the Sana’a Board.

The Houthi delegation head at the peace talks, Mohammed Abdusalam, rejected the proposal. “The airport should be opened in accordance with international standards, and we do not accept inspections.”

Sana’a’s government has agreed to work on the role of the United Nations at Sana’a Airport in order to advance negotiations and show its goodwill in this regard.

One of strategic suggestion in Stockholm talks was calling for a transitional government representing all political parties.

Despite the proposal made, the delegation has not shown any response on behalf of the Yemeni government. This means that this delegation has not stepped in to help realize peace and end crisis in Yemen, but it has come to Sweden to dictate demands.

As the peace talks continue, the persecution of the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen has once again shown that the Saudis prefer their military and criminal strategy to a political solution to the Yemen crisis. Within several days of the Stockholm talks, several areas in Yemen have been targeted by Saudi attacks, followed by dozens of civilians’ martyrdom.

The spokesman of Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e has sharply condemned the Saudi-led coalition’s attacks against Yemen. He added: “the fact that the coalition forces and their mercenaries have continued their aggression against Yemen on the first day of peace talks in Sweden indicates that the aggressors have no interest in the establishment of peace and preparing the grounds for a second round of talks.”

The biggest challenge facing the current talks between the Sana’a delegation and the Yemeni government delegation is that the government has no discretionary power to make strategic decisions, and it is fully passive in order to reduce the public pressure.

Perhaps if representatives from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were present at the negotiating table with the Sana’a delegation, the talks further saw progress as the “reliant government” delegation virtually lack authority.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived late on Wednesday in Sweden, where the talks are being held, according to Reuters.

He and his special envoy, Martin Griffiths, are due to announce results of the UN-sponsored talks, the first in more than two years, and a date for a new round of consultations.

The two parties have not agreed on the status of the Red Sea port of Hudaydah.

The Houthis control most population centers, including Hudaydah and the capital, Sana’a.

Both sides had received from the United Nations a “final package” of agreements on the status of Hudaydah, Sana’a airport, supporting the impoverished country’s central bank and a political framework.

Sources familiar with the talks said they had agreed to reopen Sana’a airport with international flights stopping at airports in Aden or Sayun in the south for inspection before flying in or out of the capital. The United Nations would oversee safety procedures, a Houthi delegate said.

Deals were reached for a prisoner swap and resumption of oil and gas exports to help shore up central bank coffers. Revenues would be used to pay salaries across Yemen, delegates said.

Griffiths is trying to avert a full-scale assault on Hudaydah, where Saudi-backed forces have massed on the outskirts of the port that handles most of Yemen’s commercial goods and aid supplies.

He has proposed that both sides withdraw from the city and place it under control of an interim entity with international monitors deployed.

The parties agree to a UN role in the port, but differ on who should run the city. The Houthis want Hudaydah declared a neutral zone, while those loyal to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi believe the city should fall under their control.

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Speaking to the Arabic-language al-Masirah TV on Tuesday night, Abdulsalam said the foreign troops’ presence in Yemen is contrary to the country’s constitution and UN Security Council resolutions.

“The presence of foreign forces in Yemen is not justified as long as our approach is political settlement (of the crisis),” he said.

Yemen’s occupied areas are now controlled by foreigners such as British, Saudi and Emirati forces, not a group that calls itself “legitimate”, he added, referring to the Yemeni exiled government which claims legitimacy.

The Ansarullah spokesman went on to say that no party could demand the presence of foreign forces in Yemen.

Abdulsalam further said that in the UN-brokered peace talks in Stockholm, Sweden, the two sides have reached some agreements on ceasefire in some areas.

The talks opened Thursday on an upbeat note, with the warring sides agreeing to a broad prisoner swap, boosting hopes that the talks would not deteriorate into further violence as in the past.

Some 8.4 million Yemenis are facing starvation as a result of the Saudi-led aggression, although the United Nations has warned that will probably rise to 14 million.

Three-quarters of impoverished Yemen’s population, or 22 million people, require aid.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured until then. The war and the accompanying blockade have also caused famine across Yemen.

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UN special envoy Martin Griffiths arrived in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on Monday to escort the Houthi delegation.

The peace talks may start Wednesday, two sources familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported.

Griffiths shuttled between the parties to salvage a previous round that collapsed in September after the Houthis were barred from joining the talks.

Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, said its delegation would travel to Sweden Tuesday morning on a plane provided by Kuwait and accompanied by Griffiths.

A post on the UN envoy’s Twitter account thanked all parties for facilitating the evacuation of the 50 wounded fighters Monday to Oman for treatment.

A plane carrying the wounded arrived in Muscat Monday night, fulfilling one of the conditions that had been set by the Houthi Ansarullah movement to participate in the talks.

Some 8.4 million Yemenis are facing starvation as a result of the Saudi-led aggression, although the United Nations has warned that will probably rise to 14 million.

Three-quarters of impoverished Yemen’s population, or 22 million people, require aid.

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