World News | U.S. official: Top Biden aide spoke to MBS about Yemen war

WASHINGTON, April 12 (AP) — White House national security adviser Jack Sullivan spoke on the phone with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday amid signs the Saudis and Yemen’s Houthi rebels allied with Iran are seeking “Significant progress” has been made towards a permanent end to their nine-year conflict, according to a senior administration official.

The crown prince, often known by his initials MBS, has had a tense relationship with President Joe Biden over human rights and oil production. But the Saudi de facto leader and the president’s top national security adviser decided to strike up a dialogue amid encouraging signs of ending the long and bloody war, a priority for Biden.

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Saudi diplomat Mohammed bin Saeed al-Jaber met with Houthi officials in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday for talks aimed at speeding up talks to end the war, a senior administration official familiar with the conversation told The Associated Press Afterwards, the appeal was issued. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

Biden’s special envoy for Yemen, Tim Lundkin, will be sent to the Saudi capital Riyadh this week for follow-up talks with Saudi officials, the official said. CIA Director William Burns traveled to Saudi Arabia last week to meet with intelligence officials.

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Jaber visited the Houthi-held Yemeni capital after Saudi Arabia last month struck a deal with Iran in China to restore diplomatic ties broken off in 2016. Iran is the main foreign backer of the Houthis in the conflict in Yemen.

For China – the United States’ biggest global rival – it was a diplomatic moment that Beijing cited as evidence of its ability to play a diplomatic role in the Middle East. White House officials pointed to significant progress in earlier rounds of talks hosted by Iraq and Oman, well before the deal was announced at the National People’s Congress in China last month.

After Sunday’s talks, White House officials were “encouraged by the significant progress made on the comprehensive road map to cement the truce in Yemen and ultimately end the war,” the official said.

Sullivan and the crown prince focused primarily on Yemen, but also discussed the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Iran’s nuclear program and other issues, the official said.

Houthi rebels allied with Iran captured Sanaa in 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia. In 2015, a Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weapons and intelligence joined the war on the side of Yemen’s government-in-exile.

Years of fruitless fighting have wreaked humanitarian catastrophe and pushed the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine. Overall, the war has killed more than 150,000 people, including more than 14,500 civilians, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The six-month ceasefire, the longest in the conflict in Yemen, expired in October. Biden has made finding permanent peace his top priority in the Middle East.

The call came amid concerns that plans by the Riyadh-led OPEC+ coalition to cut oil production could hamper efforts to curb global inflation.

OPEC+ announced last week that it would cut production by 1.1 million barrels per day, or about 1% of global output, starting next month. Saudi Arabia said the production cuts were “precautionary” and would help maintain oil prices at a time when the world economy appears to be slowing and oil demand is falling.

But with production cuts announced in October, world oil supplies fell by 3%. The April announcement could have knock-on effects on the U.S. economy in the form of higher gasoline prices, potentially forcing the Fed to raise rates more aggressively to bring down inflation.

Sullivan and MBS discussed macroeconomic issues, the official said, without elaborating on OPEC’s move.

As a candidate for the White House, Biden has vowed that the Saudi rulers will “pay the price” for their human rights record under his watch. But in July, amid rising global oil prices, Biden decided to visit Saudi Arabia. During his visit, he greeted with a fist bump with the prince who had evaded him.

Last fall, relations between the two countries encountered difficulties again.

In October, the president said there would be “consequences” for Saudi Arabia as the OPEC+ alliance moved to cut oil production. At the time, the administration said it was reassessing its relationship with Saudi Arabia after White House officials said the oil output cuts were helping Russia, another OPEC+ member, cushion the financial blow from U.S. and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow. The ongoing war in Ukraine.

The administration’s response to last week’s cuts was much softer, with Biden saying, “It’s not going to be as bad as you think.” (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)