Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, said there has been “significant progress” in talks between the warring sides of the year-long Yemeni conflict and a resolution will be reached soon.
“There is significant progress in negotiations, and we have good contacts with the Houthis, with a delegation currently in Riyadh,” the deputy crown prince said in his recent interview with Bloomberg.
“We are pushing to have this opportunity materialize on the ground but if things relapse, we are ready,” he said.
The deputy crown prince’s statements on the ongoing Yemeni war were published on Sunday.
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a coalition to intervene via airstrikes in Yemen in support of its legitimate government after Iran-backed Houthi militias seized much of Yemen.
The Kingdom scrapped military aid to Lebanon to protest what it called the growing prominence of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Yemen.
During a five-hour conversation with Bloomberg News last week, the deputy crown prince outlined some of Saudi Arabia’s regional policy positions and his views on the Saudi-US relationship.
He described Saudi Arabia’s partnership with the US as “huge” and one in which oil is only a small part.”
He said: “America is the policeman of the world, not just the Middle East.”
He added: “The US is the number one country in the world, and we consider ourselves to be the main ally of the US in the Middle East and we see America as our ally.”(Arab News)
Link: http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/905121
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