Israel Hayom, a newspaper, reported—citing diplomatic sources in the Gulf-border countries—that the trip of Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, to Tehran was carried out with the aim of reaching a ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthis.

According to the newspaper, the proposal under discussion involves Saudi Arabia paying one billion dollars to the Houthis supported by the Islamic Republic, via Tehran, in exchange for stopping attacks. A diplomatic source said the amount was transferred to Tehran by a military aircraft, but a Saudi official did not confirm the transfer of the money.

Israel Hayom wrote that part of the differences relate to agreements from three years ago, under which Saudi Arabia would provide assistance for paying staff wages and rebuilding infrastructure in return for halting the Houthis’ attacks.

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the trip of the country’s delegation to Tehran as part of efforts to reduce tensions and support diplomatic mediation. As Israel Hayom wrote, the Islamic Republic is also trying to use the Tehran meeting to advance a plan to establish a regional security mechanism.