US, Huthis hold talks

Washington is in talks with Yemen’s Iran-aligned Huthis in a bid to end the country’s war, a top US official said yesterday, the first such contact in more than four years. The negotiations open a direct channel between President Donald Trump’s administration and the Huthis amid the threat of a broader regional conflict with Iran. “We are narrowly focused on trying to end the war in Yemen,” Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker told reporters during a visit to Al-Kharj air base near the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“We are also having talks to the extent possible with the Huthis to try and find a mutually acceptable negotiated solution to the conflict.” Schenker gave no further details on the talks, which mark a renewed effort to end a complex conflict that has left tens of thousands dead and sparked what the United Nations labels the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Senior Huthi official Hamid Assem said he could neither confirm nor deny the rebels were in talks with Washington.

“That the United States says they are talking to us is a great victory for us and proves that we are right,” he said. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Washington was preparing for direct talks with Huthis and that its negotiating team would be led by Christopher Henzel, who became the Trump administration’s first ambassador to Yemen in April.

A State Department official said yesterday that “the US ambassador to Yemen and other US diplomats talk to all Yemenis to further US objectives in the country”. “We are focused on supporting a comprehensive political agreement that will end the conflict,” the official said.