Saudi-Yemen Peace Talks Underway in Sanaa

The prospect of ending Saudi Arabia’s eight-year war in Yemen advanced quickly since China brokered a détente between Iran and the kingdom.

China helped broker peace between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and now, just a month later, diplomatic delegations from Saudi Arabia and Oman are in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, holding peace talks to end a brutal 8-year war that was backed by the US from day 1.

Official delegations from Saudi Arabia and Oman held the first round of peace talks with officials from Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance group on 9 April, as Riyadh seeks a permanent ceasefire to end the NATO-backed war launched in 2015.

Yemen’s impending peace deal is seen as yet another defeat for the foreign policy agenda of US President Joe Biden, who has lost a significant amount of clout in West Asia since taking office.