The Iranian Foreign Ministry quickly picked up on the positive messages of conciliation sent by the United States. This followed U.S. President Joe Biden's first political speech from the podium of the U.S. State Department, where he announced the cessation of U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition operations in Yemen, reaffirming that his country would intensify efforts toward achieving a peaceful settlement of the Yemeni crisis.
The second message that aligned with the new approach toward the Yemeni war by U.S. authorities was the announcement from the U.S. State Department on Friday, stating that it had officially notified Congress of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's intention to remove the "Ansar Allah" Houthi group and its leaders from the terrorism list. Additionally, media reports indicated that Washington had frozen two arms deals worth approximately $760 million with Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. administration preempted this with a statement from Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, noting the departure of the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz from the Gulf after nine months of deployment, pointing out that the United States does not plan to send another aircraft carrier to replace the one leaving the Gulf, which was seen as a strong signal for de-escalation with Tehran.
For its part, Iran expressed its welcome of President Biden's announcement to stop U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition operations in Yemen, suggesting that this step could lead in the direction of correcting previous mistakes. The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated in a statement released today, Saturday, that the Biden administration's announcement to halt support for the war in Yemen could be a step toward correcting previous errors unless it is merely a U.S. political maneuver. The ministry further noted that stopping support for the coalition's war on Yemen would not be sufficient to resolve the Yemeni crisis, demanding that it be complemented by ending the air, sea, and land blockade and stopping the military assaults by the aggressor states led by Saudi Arabia.
