Speaking to the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, Hojatollah Jodaki said: “The agreement is said to be aimed at achieving peace, but it has been prepared very cunningly and has actually tried to minimize the differences between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.”

“Saudi Arabia and the UAE need each other but they don’t trust one other and their problem is distrust,” he said. The UAE argues how are the Saudis going to defend the Emirate while they cannot defend themselves? For the same reason the UAE acts with caution. It interferes in some matters and in some cases tries to hand over power. The United Arab Emirates feels its position is shaky.

Referring to some clauses of the agreement on integration of efforts under the leadership of the Arab Coalition to counter Ansarullah, he added: “They have been able thanks to Saudi efforts, to put the southerners led by the administration of Mansour Hadi against Ansarullah. In fact, they are concentrating all their power in southern Yemen but not in the name of the southern government, but in the name of the transitional Yemeni government so that they can exert maximum political pressure on Ansarullah.

Commenting on the Saudi Crown Prince’s remarks that the deal is a step towards ending the Yemeni war, Jodaki said: “The agreement cannot help restore calm in Yemen, but it can temporarily inspire the southerners that they can enter an army led by Mr. Mansour Hadi’s government in military bands and get temporary jobs and earn a living. In fact, Saudi Arabia gives them money and uses them against Yemen’s Ansarullah. For this reason the agreement is partially successful, but it cannot solve the problems of Yemen at all.

On the initial response of Yemen’s Ansarullah that the deal is not representative of the Yemeni nation and will never be implemented, the Middle East affairs analyst said Saudi Arabia and Mansour Hadi have opened a political umbrella under the pretext of peace and are working to direct the line of thinking in their own favor. But whether Saudi Arabian wants to make peace with Ansarullah is another matter which requires other measures, including a full pause in their attacks so that Ansarullah could follow the same line.

“Temporary solutions are useless and will not solve the problem,” he said. They have to find the root cause of the problem. In fact, according to the new deal, they have merely sought to claim that there is a government called the Yemeni government with an insurgent group called Yemen’s Ansarullah still fighting it. The agreement does not mention what the root problems are in Yemen and how past issues have led to the current situation.

He said that the agreement is aimed at stabilizing Saudi presence in Yemen, adding: “Saudi Arabia is the godfather of the government of Mr. Mansour Hadi.” Video clips released from the agreement showed that in Riyadh, despite the presence of Mansour Hadi and the Southerners, one person representing the two sides signed the agreement. They have shown that there is a government, which is naturally a puppet of Saudi Arabia, although it does not have a seat in Yemen and is based in Riyadh, but it can always be the Yemeni government in the eyes of the media and in the vacuum of power.

Jodaki emphasized that the goal of the deal is not to achieve peace but intended solely to increase pressure on Ansarullah. He said: “They know that peace would not be achieved under these circumstances. Saudi Arabia wants to test what it has already tested. Saudi Arabia had pursued such a plan before, but failed. Now the Riyadh leaders think this time they may succeed.

He said: “Basically, the problem of poverty and wealth and the unequal distribution of power in any territory, whether its people are Muslim or Jewish or Christian creates deep divisions. When these deep divisions turn into war the way to cure them is different and these remedies Saudi Arabia is looking for will not be a cure for these wounds.”