- The US believes that the Yemen that emerges from civil war should not contain any Iranian-backed threat to 抖阴短视频 and the UAE
- The US is encouraging the Yemeni government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, and the Iran-aligned Houthi militia to fully engage in peace talks
ABU DHABI: The United States wants to continue support to the Arab coalition in Yemen鈥檚 war and will remain engaged in efforts to combat Iranian influence and Islamist militancy in the Arab state, a State Department official said on Sunday.
Since the Oct 2. murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom鈥檚 Istanbul consulate, the US administration has come under pressure at home over the nearly four-year-old conflict.
The Senate last month voted to advance a resolution to end US military support, which includes arms sales and intelligence sharing, for the Western-backed Sunni Muslim coalition that intervened in 2015 against the Iranian-aligned Houthis to restore the internationally recognized government.
鈥淭here are pressures in our system ... to either withdraw from the conflict or discontinue our support of the coalition, which we are strongly opposed to on the administration side,鈥� said Timothy Lenderking, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Arabian Gulf Affairs.
鈥淲e do believe that the support for the coalition is necessary. It sends a wrong message if we discontinue our support,鈥� he told a security forum in the UAE.
The US official鈥檚 reassurances of continued support comes as Sweden hosts the first UN-led peace talks in two years between the warring parties and as Gulf Arab leaders hold an annual summit in Riyadh on Sunday, expected to discuss the war.
Containing Iran
Lenderking said peace talks launched last week were a 鈥渧ital first step鈥� in ending the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and left millions facing starvation.
He said there were no illusions the process would be easy, but that there were signs of constructive talks and that Washington wants concrete results from the meetings focused on confidence-building measures and a transitional governing body.
鈥淟ooking down the road we seek a stable and unified Yemen that fosters rather than drains regional and global stability.鈥�
鈥淭here is no place in a future Yemen for an Iranian-backed threat to 抖阴短视频, the UAE and vital international economic quarters,鈥� he said, adding that the coalition was also combating al Qaeda and Islamic State militants in Yemen.
The Arabian Peninsula country lies beside the southern mouth of the Red Sea, one of the most important trade routes in the world for oil tankers.
The conflict, seen largely in the region as a proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran, pits the Houthi movement against other Yemeni forces loyal to the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi backed by the coalition led by 抖阴短视频 and the UAE.
The Houthis, who have fired missiles on Saudi cities, control the capital Sanaa, after ousting Hadi鈥檚 government from there in 2014, and the most populous areas of the country. Hadi鈥檚 government has a base in the southern port of Aden.
Lenderking said that experts forecast there could be 1 million former combatants that need to be disarmed once a peace deal is reached, requiring security sector reform as well as restoring crippled infrastructure and shoring up the economy.
鈥淓arly recovery efforts are underway but full-scale reconstruction can only occur in a peaceful environment. For that reason, we want to close the space for malign Iranian influence.鈥�