Region

VIENNA — The timing of sanctions relief is the main sticking point in nuclear talks that resumed on Wednesday with a meeting between delegates from Iran and the European Union.

Arriving in Vienna, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi reiterated Iran's position: "All the economic sanctions should be lifted on the day that the deal is implemented," Iranian news agency Tasnim reported.

The United States says the sanctions, imposed on Iran by countries concerned that its nuclear programme could be aimed at weapons development, would have to be phased out gradually.

Referring to concerns that the US Congress might try to delay lifting sanctions, Araqchi told state television that President Barack Obama's administration was "responsible to ensure that its commitments, particularly sanctions-related ones, are fulfilled".

Iran and the other countries in the talks — China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States and Germany — reached a tentative deal on April 2 and now aim to finalise the details by self-imposed end-June deadline.

“We think it is possible to reach a fair and just agreement ... by the end of June or even before that,” Araqchi said. Iran says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and accuses the West of using the issue as an excuse to hurt the Islamic Republic.

Tehran’s commitments on technical nuclear issues under any final deal would be monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a body that Iran’s envoy to the Vienna-based agency said Tehran trusted to do the job, Iran’s Press TV reported.

Talks between Araqchi and EU political director Helga Schmid are due to continue into Wednesday evening and through Thursday. Delegates from the six powers, including US Under Secretary Wendy Sherman, are expected to join the talks on Friday, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, told Iranian television on Wednesday that US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif “discussed Iran’s nuclear issue by phone last night”.

Zarif was quoted by Iranian media as saying he would meet Kerry on Monday in New York on the sidelines of a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference at the United Nations.

CAIRO — Arab League military chiefs decided Wednesday to form a panel to examine all aspects of building a region-wide military force aimed at combatting jihadists, including the Daesh terror group.

The bloc agreed in March to set up the force, with members given four months to decide on its composition, precise rules of engagement and budget.

Top brass gathered at league headquarters in Cairo decided "to set up a high-ranking committee under the supervision of army chiefs to examine all aspects of this issue", said a statement at the end of their meeting.

“The panel will examine the mechanisms and budget needed to set up the joint Arab military force, and also the legal framework.”

It was not immediately clear when the committee will actually be formed, but the statement said it would meet in the next few weeks.

The meeting, attended by Arab League chief Nabil El Araby, was chaired by Egyptian Armed Forces’ Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Mahmoud Hegazy.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has been pushing for the creation of the force since February, after a video emerged showing Daesh executing a group of Coptic Christians in neighbouring Libya, prompting retaliatory air strikes by Cairo.

The idea gained momentum after Saudi Arabia and Arab allies launched air strikes on Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“The creation of a joint Arab force in no way aims to form a new alliance or army hostile to any country, but a force to fight terrorism and maintain security, peace and stability in the region,” Araby said at the start of Wednesday’s meeting.

Hegazy said there was a need to “fight terrorism”, adding that the force might intervene in internal conflicts.

“We cannot ignore internal conflicts and the growth of terrorist organisations in an Arab country, and it is wrong to think that these conflicts have no direct or indirect repercussions in other Arab countries,” he said.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country, appears set to become the backbone of the force.

Cairo sees it as imperative to intervene in Libya against the local branch of Daesh that is gaining ground in the country.

Daesh has carried out widespread atrocities in the region and won the support of several other jihadist organisations.

On Sunday it released a video purportedly showing the execution of about 30 Ethiopian Christians captured in Libya.

BEIRUT — Lebanon on Wednesday began implementing a new traffic law that includes speed limits and mandatory seat belts in what officials hope is a move that will reduce deaths from road accidents.

The legislation, however, has met with criticism across Lebanon, a country where many roads have potholes, are unmarked and unlit, and where traffic lights often don't work.

The leading As-Safir daily said there remained numerous "question marks" about the law and questioned whether it would rein in officials "who break records in road violations while being protected by immunity".

But police chief Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous defended the measure, saying it's a "roadmap to reduce the catastrophes of our families and sons on the road" and adding that the law would be gradually implemented over the next two months to win the Lebanese over.

At one of main Beirut intersections, police Sgt. Ziad Hably handed out leaflets to motorists, advising them on new fines in case of violations as he peeked inside vehicles to check the seatbelts were on.

In contrast to just the day before, most motorists had their seatbelts fastened and those on motorcycles wore helmets. Closely watched by policemen, drivers were also abiding by traffic lights.

Police Capt. Eddie Kahwaji said his men were "surprised by the commitment of the people" and that he hopes "deaths on the roads will drop".

Some, like taxi driver Samir Ghadban, claimed that "nothing has changed" because they were already following regulations.

New fines range between 50,000 Lebanese pounds ($33) and 3,000,000 Lebanese pounds ($2,000), depending on the violation. There are also the points fines, a system under which repeat violations could lead to revoking the driver's license for a certain period of time.

Worst violations are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or driving 60 kilometres over the speed limit.

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has declared nearly a month of air strikes on Yemeni rebels a success, but at the cost of a resurgent Al Qaeda and with no sign of peace yet.

"Mission accomplished," a Saudi newspaper proclaimed Wednesday, echoing a banner on a US warship where then-president George W. Bush infamously declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq in 2003.

But, like in Iraq, fighting raged on between rebels and forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who remains in exile in Riyadh, a day after the Saudi-led coalition announced a halt to its air war.

"The air campaign had exhausted its potential," and with Riyadh's allies like Pakistan unwilling or unable to provide ground forces, there were "few good options", said the Soufan Group intelligence consultancy.

It said US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin had also "made clear that they favoured a political solution" to the conflict.

"All sides will have been very conscious that the greatest beneficiary of the chaos in Yemen was the more immediate enemy: Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula."

The Saudi defence ministry said Operation Decisive Storm had managed to "successfully remove threats to Saudi Arabia's security and that of neighbouring countries" by destroying heavy weaponry and ballistic missiles seized by the Houthi Shiite rebels.

Saudi-led warplanes returned to action Wednesday, in line with the coalition's vow to carry out targeted strikes on Houthi "movements and military operations" when necessary.

'Bar set low' 

The goals of the campaign were not very clearly defined from the start, according to a diplomatic source who did not want to be named.

"I think they've set the bar pretty low with what they sort of wanted to achieve in the air campaign,” the source said.

"They want to end it now before they get too bogged down."

Eight Saudi armed forces personnel were killed in skirmishes along the Yemen border during Decisive Storm, while the World Health Organisation has said at least 944 people have died from fighting inside Yemen since March 19.

A Western diplomatic source described as credible coalition claims to have destroyed the rebel weapons but said the Houthis, in any case, never posed "any real threat" to Saudi Arabia.

The coalition spokesman, Brigadier General Ahmed Al Assiri, has said that Decisive Storm also aimed to protect Yemeni citizens and "legitimacy", a reference to the government of Hadi.

At the start of the bombing campaign Hadi fled to Riyadh, where other members of his government have been based, following the advance of the Houthis on the southern port city of Aden.

Supporters of the rebels questioned what the air campaign had achieved.

"The operation has failed", said Ali Bukhaiti, a pro-Houthi writer and analyst based in Yemen.

"Hadi is still in Riyadh and the Houthis have not withdrawn from a single village. They will only withdraw according to an internal understanding with Yemenis."

Victory, 'in a way' 

The Houthis on Wednesday demanded a complete end to attacks by a Saudi-led coalition and sought UN-sponsored talks.

Another diplomatic source said of the air campaign that "in a way, it's a victory" for Riyadh and its allies.

He said the coalition had managed to limit the rebels' gains, obtain international support through a UN Security Council resolution, mobilise the support of Arab allies, and "showed their determination in front of Iran", accused of backing the rebels.

All of this, the source said, has "created a new framework for resuming the national dialogue, with a new equilibrium".

The coalition said the new phase of operations, dubbed "Restore Hope", aimed to "swiftly resume the political process", backed by the United Nations, deliver aid and fight "terrorism" in the country.

The United States considers Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to be the militants' most dangerous branch.

The franchise has exploited the chaos to expand its territory in the southeast of Yemen where it has seized the provincial capital of Mukalla including the airport.

"Dealing with AQAP is an important objective for Saudi Arabia: while AQAP is based in Yemen, its main objective is to attack Saudi Arabia," the Soufan Group said

"Ironically, the most effective force against AQAP in Yemen has so far been the Houthis and vice versa," it added.

The Shiite rebels, whose traditional stronghold is in the mountainous north, fought six wars with the central government from 2004 to 2010.

Getting the Houthis back to negotiations was always the aim of the coalition air strikes, the first diplomatic source said, and if that can be accomplished, "then I guess they can claim some sort of win".

LONDON — Saudi Arabia's military intervention in neighbouring Yemen shows that the Sunni monarchy will stand up to Iran and that Arab states can protect their interests without US leadership, the kingdom's ambassador to Britain said.

Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf also said that the Saudi-led coalition that has waged four weeks of air strikes against Shiite Houthi fighters in Yemen had met its goals and could be a model for future joint Arab action.

The coalition announced a halt to its aerial campaign on Tuesday, but said it would continue to act as needed against Houthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa and have been fighting to take over the southern port of Aden.

The traditionally cautious kingdom says it launched the air strikes because its regional rival Iran had been training, arming and financing the Houthis, extending Tehran's influence in the Arab world to Saudi Arabia's southern border.

Shiite Iran denies supporting the Houthis militarily and has sharply criticised Saudi Arabia's campaign.

"Iran should not have any say in Yemeni affairs. They are not part of the Arab world," Prince Mohammed told Reuters in an interview in the Saudi embassy in London. "Their interference has ignited instability, they have created havoc in our part of the world and we've seen the events that took place because of their malignant policies."

"Hence you have the coalition and a new foreign policy for all of us. We want an Arab world free of any outside interference," the prince said. "We can deal with our own problems."

The military campaign put an end to "the perception that we were not capable, not able, that we didn't have the guts to take such difficult decisions", he said.

Washington has played a limited support role in the four-week campaign, reflecting President Barack Obama's wariness over US military commitments in the Middle East, although it has accelerated some arms supplies, bolstered intelligence sharing and offered aerial refuelling of Arab coalition jets.

"The Obama doctrine is very clear," Prince Mohammed said. "This is a friendship which is historical, which will continue, but we have to assert ourselves. Not only Saudi Arabia, but Arab countries. It has to be collective."

Political negotiations

The air strikes, which involved more than 2,400 sorties by Saudi jets and their Arab allies, have failed to drive the Houthis out of Aden. But they have struck weapons depots, disrupted supply lines and weakened the Houthis and their allies in the southern provinces of the country.

Saudi Arabia has demanded the return of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the country a month ago, and implementation of a UN resolution calling for the Houthis to withdraw from Aden and Sanaa.

Prince Mohammed said the campaign was now in a new phase.

"This is not a ceasefire, but an operation that shifts from being a strategic bombing campaign to one that will support, monitor and sustain the new political agreement that is currently being negotiated based on the UN resolution," he said.

Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, an ally of the Shiite Houthis, welcomed the declared end of air strikes and called for renewed political dialogue to guide the country out of turmoil.

"We hope this will mark the end of the option of force, violence and bloodshed and a start for reviewing accounts and correcting mistakes," Saleh said.

Although the nearly month-old campaign has been waged by Sunni Arab allies against the Shiite Houthis, the Saudi ambassador said the dispute was about foreign policy differences, not religious sectarianism.

"It is a foreign policy problem. We have a problem with their [Iran's] foreign policy," he said.

"When we deal with Israel, for example, we have a problem with their policy. But we don't have a problem with their religion. Our dealings with Iran is with their foreign policy."

UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council on Monday demanded that aid workers be allowed to distribute food and other supplies to refugees trapped by fighting inside Syria’s Yarmouk camp.

The 15-member council also demanded that fighters from Daesh terror group and Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front withdraw, and that bombing raids on the Palestinian refugee camp be halted.

Fighting has intensified since April 1 when Daesh fighters seized part of the camp, clashing with other armed groups as Syrian government forces besieged the area.

The council on Monday met for the second time in two weeks to discuss the Yarmouk crisis after Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said action must be taken to prevent a “massacre” at the camp.

In a unanimous statement, the council “called for unhindered humanitarian access to the Yarmouk camp and for the protection of civilians inside the camp”.

The council heard a report from Pierre Krahenbuhl, head of the Palestinian UNRWA relief agency, who returned from a recent visit to the area to try to secure access to Yarmouk.

The UN official later told reporters that the situation in Yarmouk “remains very extreme in both circumstances and hardship” but he declined to comment on military operations by the various armed groups.

Palestinian officials said last week that Daesh fighters had retreated.

Krahenbuhl noted that a $30 million appeal for funding for the Yarmouk aid effort had received few pledges.

The UN official proposed that a delegation from the Security Council travel to Yarmouk for a first-hand view of the situation.

Once home to around 160,000 Palestinian residents as well as a number of Syrians, Yarmouk’s population had shrunk to just 18,000 by the time Daesh entered the camp.

According to Palestinian sources, some 2,500 civilians have managed to escape the camp, located just seven kilometers from Damascus.

BEIRUT — Daesh is preparing for a possible attack on a city in northeastern Syria near the border with Iraq where it remains a big threat despite recent setbacks, a Kurdish official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Hasaka province in northeastern Syria is strategically important for all sides and abuts Daesh-held territory in Iraq, where the group is back on the offensive after losing the city of Tikrit at the start of the month.

The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia has recorded significant victories against Daesh this year, driving it from the town of Kobani at the Turkish border and then taking two towns in Hasaka province with the help of a US-led air campaign.

But Daesh remains a danger, said Redur Xelil, YPG spokesman. Its targets include the provincial capital, Hasaka city, and the town of Tel Tamr, to the northwest. Daesh is still believed to be holding some 200 Assyrian Christians abducted in February from villages near Tel Tamr.

"South of Hasaka there are areas that Daesh controls entirely. There is a big Daesh mobilisation outside the city, and there are big fears of an attack on Hasaka city," Xelil said in an interview from the city of Qamishli via Skype.

For now, Daesh priority is Tel Tamr, where it aims to cut a YPG supply route, he added. Daesh was "trying to take big cities, to take the battle into cities" to mark it harder for the US-led alliance to hit it, he said.

Hasaka is home to many Syrians who have fled areas further west, including the country's second city Aleppo, he added.

The Syrian Observatory, which monitors the Syrian civil war, reports daily clashes between the YPG and Daesh  fighters near Tel Tamr, and clashes between the Syrian military and Daesh in areas west and east of Hasaka city.

Air strikes

The YPG has emerged as the only partner for the US-led alliance bombing Daesh in Syria. But its effectiveness is greatly diminished beyond areas where the Kurds have set up autonomous zones since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011.

The United States, rejecting any partnership with President Bashar Assad against Daesh, is about to launch a programme to train and equip members of the mainstream Syrian opposition in order to fight the jihadists elsewhere.

Xelil said the YPG had not been consulted on the programme, adding that its requests for military supplies remained unmet.

Support for the YPG is a complicated issue for Western states because of the concerns of NATO member Turkey, which is worried about separatism among its own Kurdish population.

Since driving Daesh from Kobani in January, the YPG has secured a large area around the town, including villages within the provincial boundaries of Raqqa — Daesh’s de facto capital.

Daesh is the single biggest insurgent group in Syria, controlling areas in the east and the north.

In recent weeks, it has been mounting attacks well beyond those strongholds, targeting both insurgent- and government-held areas closer to Syria's main cities in the west.

Xelil said Daesh had adapted to the air strikes. They were digging trenches and moving fighters and equipment in small convoys.

"They have found ways to deal with this situation, moving from area to area in a hidden way, or at times when there are no planes, either surveillance or bombers," he said."

"The Daesh threat will continue, all the while it dominates wide areas where it has supporters."

BAGHDAD — Iraq security forces have recaptured areas lost earlier to Daesh terror group in and around the battleground city of Ramadi, security officials said Tuesday.

According to police Maj. Omar Al Alawni, government forces regained control of the city's Pediatric and Maternity Hospital and the surrounding neighbourhood late Monday night after fierce clashes with Daesh militants. The hospital is located about 500 metres from a complex of government offices.

On Tuesday, Iraqi troops were engaged in intense clashes in an offensive to regain control of Soufiya, one of three villages that fell into the hands of Daesh terror group last week, said police Col. Mahdi Abbas.

Both officials said the battles turned in favour of government forces after the arrival of reinforcements and weapons from Baghdad. At least 12 militants were killed in the clashes overnight, they said.

Footage obtained by The Associated Press showed military black Humvees advancing in a residential area in Ramadi and Iraqi soldiers firing their rifles while taking shelter behind a wall.

The security situation in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, sharply deteriorated after Daesh seized Soufiya and the two other villages, Sjariyah and Albu-Ghanim, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes.

Elsewhere in Iraq, police said a bomb exploded Tuesday in a commercial street in the town of Madain, just south of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding four. Later in the day, a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in the capital's western suburbs, killing two policemen and also wounding four.

Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

CAIRO — Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole on Tuesday on charges arising from the killing of protesters, nearly three years after he became Egypt's first freely elected president.

Morsi stood in a cage in court as judge Ahmed Sabry Youssef read out the ruling against him and 12 other Brotherhood members, including senior figures Mohamed Al Beltagy and Essam Al Erian. The sentencing was broadcast live on state television.

The men were convicted on charges of violence, kidnapping and torture stemming from the killing of protesters during demonstrations in 2012. They were acquitted of murder charges, which carry the death sentence.

A lawyer for some of the defendants said they would appeal.

Amnesty International described the ruling as "a travesty of justice" that "shatters any remaining illusion of independence and impartiality in Egypt's criminal justice system".

The rights group called for Morsi to be retried in a civilian court "in line with international standards" or released.

Leading Egyptian cleric Sheikh Youssef Al Qaradawi, who lives in pro-Brotherhood Qatar, criticised the ruling.

"The judiciary in Egypt is no longer one of the three [branches of] power. Instead, all the powers and the country itself are now run by the military," he said in a statement.

Egypt's US-backed government says the judiciary is independent and it never intervenes in its work.

Displaying a four-finger salute symbolising resistance to the state's crackdown on Islamists, defendants in a makeshift courtroom on the outskirts of Cairo chanted "God is Greatest" after the verdict was read.

The ruling is the first against Morsi, who says he is determined to reverse what he calls a military coup against him in 2013 staged by then army chief, now president, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.

Amr Darrag, a Morsi-era minister, said the Brotherhood would remain a powerful force, with younger members taking up leadership roles made vacant by the state's crackdown.

“The overall attitude of the Brotherhood [is] more revolutionary because the generation taking it over is young and more revolutionary and they saw what kind of an Egypt we’d have if they don’t do what they have to do,” he told Reuters in an interview in Istanbul.

Morsi’s son, Osama, said his father plans a comeback despite the jail sentence

State news agency MENA quoted a security source saying Morsi was taken by helicopter back to Borg Al Arab prison near Alexandria, where he has been held for more than a year.

Morsi faces charges in four other cases including leaking secrets to Qatar, conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas to destabilise Egypt, and organising a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak.

After toppling Morsi following mass protests against his rule, Sisi proceeded to crush the Brotherhood, which he says is part of a terrorist network that poses an existential threat to the Arab and Western worlds.

The Brotherhood says it is a peaceful movement that will return to office through people power, even though demonstrations have fallen to a trickle.

The verdict did not appear to trigger significant protests, another sign of the Brotherhood’s waning influence.

Deep state

Egypt’s deep state apparatus — the interior ministry, intelligence services and army — now appears to have a tighter grip than ever on the most populous Arab nation.

While Morsi has become far less relevant, even within the Brotherhood, Sisi was elected president last year, winning over many Egyptians who overlooked widespread allegations of human rights abuses for the sake of stability.

Egypt’s allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which also see the Brotherhood as a threat, have been pouring billions of dollars into the Egyptian economy to support Sisi since Morsi’s fall.

Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters have been sentenced to death since Morsi’s removal and thousands more detained.

By contrast, a court in November dropped its case against Mubarak over the killing of protesters in the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule and symbolised hopes for a new era of political openness and accountability.

Mubarak’s sons have been released from jail pending retrial in a corruption case involving his former palaces.

Businessmen who thrived under Mubarak’s era of crony capitalism have regained influence.

Western powers that called for democracy declined to use leverage against Sisi, the latest military man to seize power.

Morsi, who rose through the ranks of the Brotherhood before winning the presidency in 2012, was a polarising figure during his troubled year in office, which followed Mubarak’s fall.

Morsi’s policies alienated secular and liberal Egyptians, who feared that the Brotherhood — the main opposition to Mubarak for decades and popular among many Egyptians for its charity work — was abusing power.

Protests erupted in late 2012 after Morsi issued a decree expanding presidential powers — a move his supporters say was necessary to prevent a judiciary still packed with Mubarak appointees from derailing a fragile political transition.

Those demonstrations led to the deaths of protesters, for which prosecutors argued that Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders were responsible. Morsi and his co-defendants denied the charges.

Reda Sanoussi, the brother of one of the victims, was unhappy with the dismissal of murder charges against Morsi.

“I want to enter the cage and pull out his intestines,” he told Reuters.

DUBAI — The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen for almost a month announced on Tuesday the end to its military operation, but a Saudi spokesperson said forces would continue to target the Iran-allied Houthi movement as necessary.

"Operation Storm of Resolve has achieved its goals... [including] removing the threat to Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries especially in terms of heavy weapons," said a statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA.

"With its end, the new Operation Restoring Hope begins with the following goals: continuing to protect civilians, continuing to fight terrorism and continuing to facilitate the evacuation of foreign nationals and to intensify relief and medical assistance to the Yemeni people."

Saudi spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asseri said the alliance would still target movements by the Houthi militia group.

"The coalition will continue to prevent the Houthi militias from moving or undertaking any operations inside Yemen," Asseri told reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

"Operation Restoring Hope has begun and it represents a combination of political, diplomatic and military action," Asseri said.

US warships

In another development, the Pentagon said on Tuesday the presence of a large convoy of Iranian cargo ships in the Arabian Sea was one factor in the US decision to deploy additional warships in the waters off war-torn Yemen but was not the primary reason for the move.

Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesperson, also said he did not believe Navy warships patrolling the region had been in direct contact with the Iranian flotilla of nine cargo ships.

Warren dismissed reports the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and cruiser USS Normandy had been deployed to the region to intercept Iranian ships carrying arms to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fighting forces loyal to the US-backed Yemeni president.

“Many have asked me whether or not they [the US warships] are there because of the Iranian ship convoy or flotilla that is also in the area,” Warren said. “That is certainly one of the factors. That is not the reason they are there.”

He said the United States did not know what the Iranian cargo ships were carrying and declined to say whether the US warships would stop and board Iranian vessels if they attempted to enter Yemeni territorial waters.

“I’m not going to telegraph anything,” Warren said.

Warren said US warships were in the Gulf of Aden area “because of the deteriorating security situation in Yemen” and the need to ensure freedom of navigation through the zone, which is vital to oil shipping.

Asked how the Houthis could pose a threat to maritime security when they do not have a navy, Warren pointed to Libya, where rising conflict has prompted refugees to pack aboard boats that later capsized in the Mediterranean.

“It’s difficult to predict the future, so what we need to have are options,” Warren said. “We have to preserve and to create options for ourselves should the deteriorating security situation get to a point that... maritime security is threatened.”

The UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on the Houthi rebels, and the Saudi navy has imposed a naval blockade around Yemen.