U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed diplomatic efforts to end the war in Yemen and bolstering Saudi Arabia’s defenses in a call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said.
Secretary Blinken condemned the Houthi attacks against the Abha International Airport, which struck a civilian airliner, according to a State Department readout of the call. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Secretary Blinken and the Foreign Minister “discussed joint efforts to bolster Saudi defenses against attacks on the Kingdom. The Secretary and Foreign Minister outlined diplomatic outreach to find a negotiated political settlement to the war in Yemen, including through the U.S. Special Envoy to Yemens recent engagements with regional partners, humanitarian aid organizations, the U.N. Special Envoy, and other stakeholders,” the readout added.
In addition to the call, the new U.S. envoy to Yemen, Timothy Lenderking, met personally with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister in Riyadh, Saudi state news agency SPA said on Wednesday. U.S. President Joe Biden last week named veteran U.S. diplomat Tim Lenderking as a U.S. special envoy to Yemen in a bid to step up American diplomacy to end the war.
“Developments concerning Yemen were discussed, and joint efforts to support reaching a comprehensive political solution to the Yemen crisis were reviewed,” the SPA report said.
