Blinken, Saudi Foreign Minister Discuss Yemen in Phone Call

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone on Monday with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the second call between the two counterparts in the last couple of months. Blinken thanked the kingdom for trying to strengthen and extend the truce in Yemen, according to a statement issued by State Department spokesman Ned Price. They also discussed “efforts to avert the economic, environmental, and humanitarian threats posed by the Safer oil tanker in the Red Sea region.” The tanker has been stranded in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen for the last seven years.

Blinken and Prince Faisal also discussed the “challenge posed by Iran’s nuclear program and its destabilizing behavior in the region, and opportunities for greater cooperation on regional issues,” according to the readout. They also discussed Russia’s war on Ukraine, and the “importance of international support for Ukraine,” and the need for a global response to the food security crisis resulting from it.

Earlier this month, Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, the kingdom’s former intelligence chief and a former ambassador to the United States, said in an interview that Saudi Arabia feels “let down” by US President Joe Biden’s decision to halt the United States’ support for the Saudi-led coalition in defense of the internationally recognized government of Yemen. Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia also have been challenged by the murder of journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, which the United States believes was approved by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi ruler, known as MBS.