White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington (Image: AP File Photo)
Talks covered progress in consolidating a 15-month-long truce in Yemen and other issues.
The White House said that “significant progress” was made in Yemen peace efforts on Sunday shortly after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to the kingdom, Reuters said in a report.
The trip was aimed at strengthening ties with Riyadh and reestablishing the US as the key player in the region as China aims to dethrone Washington by engaging with regional rivals and urging them to come to the table for peace talks, as it did earlier with Saudi Arabia and Iran.
“He reviewed significant progress in talks to further consolidate the now 15-month long truce in Yemen and welcomed ongoing UN-led efforts to bring the war to a close, as well as covering a range of other issues,” the White House statement said.
In 2015, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen after the Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, took over the government in the capital city of Sanaa. The countries that are part of the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, and Sudan. Qatar, Sudan and Morocco have exited the coalition.
In April, a Saudi delegation engaged in peace talks in Sanaa with the Houthis to seek a permanent ceasefire agreement that would end military involvement in the conflict.
The Houthis’s top negotiator reported progress in the talks, and both sides have agreed to hold further discussions in the future.
Yemen’s conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people and left millions hungry, has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Reuters said in its report.
Sullivan also held talks with UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan and India national security adviser Ajit Doval where they discussed how to “advance their shared vision of a more secure and prosperous Middle East region interconnected with India and the world”.
It should be noted that UAE, India, Israel and the US are also part of the I2U2 group.
Israel, however, was not part of Sullivan’s agenda over the weekend, but a senior Israeli security official expressed hope for a significant development in the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia because of the visit.
The United States has provided military support to Saudi Arabia for decades and considers the country a key ally in the region for its role in maintaining security and stability.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter and has been a key supplier of oil to the United States for many years. The two countries also have significant economic ties.
This relationship was impacted due to issues such as human rights, the war in Yemen and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Recent oil production cuts by Saudi-led OPEC+ have also hurt bilateral relations.
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