No free pass for Yemen, U.S. says

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Yemen's embattled president told the U.S. envoy to Sanaa he planned to sign a deal to step down, though the U.S. State Department expressed suspicion.

The State Department confirmed that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh called in U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein to inform him of his decision to sign a deal for his resignation brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, told reporters during her regular press briefing that, while this was a good step, Washington was taking a wait-and-see approach.

She said Saleh wasn't getting a free pass from Washington.

Saleh has said several times in the past that would he sign the GCC.

Saleh has faced pressure to stand down for much of the year. He spent several months in a hospital in Saudi Arabia after an assassination attempt in June. Nuland, while Saleh was recovering, said he was well enough to use a pen regardless of his location.

Violence has escalated in Yemen in October, prompted the U.N. Security Council to issue its grave concern over the security situation there. At least 10 people were wounded and several others were killed recently despite Saleh's assurances of a cease-fire.