Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Iran will provide Yemen with fuel for a year and build a power station, the Yemeni state Saba news agency reported.

The Shiite Houthi group that took control of the capital Sana’a last year sent a delegation to Tehran during which the aid was promised, the news agency reported, citing Saleh al- Sammad, chief of the Houthi political department.

In addition to building a 165-megawatt power station, Iran will send experts to look into constructing 12,000-megawatt power stations in the port cities of Hodieda, Aden and Mukha, carrying out maintenance work on the current generating plant in Marib, and expanding the Hodieda port, according to al-Sammad.

The report is a further sign of growing relations between Shiite Iran and the Houthis, who follow a sect of Shiite Islam. Earlier this month, the two sides signed an agreement to start direct flights between Sana’a and Tehran.

On Wednesday, the Houthis rejected Yemeni President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi’s call to hold peace talks in Saudi Arabia, saying its authorities haven’t presented themselves as neutral. Hadi, whose presidency was backed by the mainly Sunni states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, fled Sana’a after its capture by the Houthis and is now based in the southern city of Aden.

The conflict threatens to split Yemen, and political instability may allow al-Qaeda to expand its operations in the impoverished nation.