Phone Conversation Between Pompeo and Saudi Crown Prince Regarding Yemen and Iran

On Wednesday, October 3, the U.S. State Department announced that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed bilateral relations and regional issues, including Yemen and countering Iranian activities, during a phone call. Heather Nauert, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, stated that Pompeo thanked Mohammed bin Salman for ongoing and serious cooperation. Nauert added that the U.S. Secretary of State and the Saudi Crown Prince discussed a wide range of regional and bilateral issues, including Yemen and countering Iran's destructive activities in the region. The spokesperson further noted that Pompeo and Mohammed bin Salman also consulted on expanding cooperation between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. On the same day, the U.S. Secretary of State met with Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, the Bahraini Foreign Minister, in Washington to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues. In another statement, Nauert mentioned that Pompeo and Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa discussed U.S.-Bahrain cooperation in combating terrorism, countering Iran's malign influence in the region, and bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain accuse Iran of providing military support to Houthi militants in Yemen, supplying explosives to armed groups opposing the Bahraini government, and providing financial and military support to Bashar al-Assad's regime in the Syrian civil war. Following the outbreak of the civil war in Yemen, which began three and a half years ago between Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, Saudi Arabia and its allies formed a regional coalition against the Houthis and launched attacks on that country. In this context, the Saudi Foreign Minister recently stated that Iran has no role in the Arab world and must be removed from it. Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi Foreign Minister, accused the Iranian government of having 'continuously done all bad things' in the region for the past 35 years. Al-Jubeir criticized the nuclear agreement made during Barack Obama's presidency between Iran and six world powers, stating that Iran's activities and actions 'have particularly increased after the signing of the JCPOA.' Iran has denied accusations of sending weapons to the Houthis, claiming it entered the Syrian campaign at the invitation of the 'central government of Syria' and 'to fight against terrorism.' In turn, the Islamic Republic has accused Saudi Arabia of 'producing, nurturing, and spreading terrorism' in the region and the world.