Ali Shamkhani described the deal recently signed between the Yemeni government and the Ansarullah movement as a significant step on the path toward national understanding in the Arab country and extended congratulations to the people of Yemen for succeeding to have their demands met.

He praised the role of the United Nations in persuading the government of Yemen to agree to people’s demands and hoped that regional countries, with “a correct understanding of Yemen’s developments,” would play a positive role and help Yemenis to achieve their revolutionary and Islamic objectives.

Shamkhani underscored that the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to stand by the Yemeni people and to spare no efforts for the expansion of cooperation with the Arab country.

On Sunday, a delegation from the Ansarullah movement and government representatives signed a deal in the presence of Jamal Benomar, a UN envoy in Yemen, and Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi at the presidential palace in the capital, Sana’a.

The agreement calls for the current government to rule in a caretaker role until a new administration is formed next month after consultations with all political parties.

Ansarullah activists, also known as Houthis, have been staging demonstrations in the capital for more than a month, to protest what they call widespread corruption. They demand the formation of a new government.

Yemen’s Shia Houthi movement draws its name from the tribe of its founding leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi.

The Houthi movement played a key role in the popular revolution that forced the former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.