Saudi Arabia on Wednesday welcomed a deal between Yemen’s government and the Iran-backed Houthi militia to halt tit-for-tat banking sanctions.

The deal was announced on Tuesday by Hans Grundberg, the United Nations’ envoy to Yemen, in a bid to end the warring parties’ battle for control over the country’s financial institutions.

Saudi Arabia said it “welcomed” the agreement.

A Saudi foreign ministry statement expressed “support for efforts aimed at achieving peace and security for Yemen,” and said it hopes the latest deal “will contribute to reaching a comprehensive political solution” to the country’s nearly decade-long conflict.

Grundberg had credited the Kingdom with “significant efforts” to broker the deal, cautioning however that it did not guarantee progress to end the war in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country.

The Houthis and the government had in December committed to a UN-led roadmap to end the war, agreeing to work towards “the resumption of an inclusive political process.”

But Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping since November and subsequent US and British retaliation have put peace talks on hold.

Tuesday’s announcement came as Yemen reeled from a deadly strike on the Houthi-held harbor of Hodeida, which Israel said it carried out in retaliation for the first fatal Houthi strike on Tel Aviv last week.