Yemen said on Saturday it was ready to "deal positively" with a U.N. Security Council resolution urging the government to sign an agreement that would require the president to step down in exchange for immunity.

"The government of the Yemeni government is willing to deal positively with U.N. Security Council resolution 2014, for it conforms with the Yemeni government efforts to put an end to the political crisis on the basis of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative," a Yemeni government source said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

Ali Abdullah Saleh already has backed down three times from signing the Gulf initiative, which came following months of protests by Yemenis demanding that the president end his 33 years in office.