WASHINGTON: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Tuesday told the US ambassador in Sanaa that he is committed to a plan to step down amid political violence, the State Department said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland welcomed Saleh's remarks but said that he needed to live up to his promises, after a string of statements by the veteran leader voicing support for the plan without implementing it.

Saleh met with US Ambassador Gerald Feierstein to discuss developments in Yemen after the UN Security Council and the United States both urged him to begin the transfer of power immediately, Nuland said.

“It is a positive step that he called the ambassador in and recommitted to him -- to us, to the international community -- that he intends to sign it,” Nuland told reporters.

“So now we look for him to make good on that commitment,” she said.