Biden's envoy pushes Arab nations to step up against Red Sea threats
US diplomat reaches out to Middle-East partners about growing Red Sea security issues. His efforts focus on getting more support to handle Yemen-based groupʼs attacks on vessels
Timothy Lenderking‚ the US special rep for Yemen has been super-busy talking to Arab partners since last fall. His non-stop work includes lots of back-and-forth with Egypt Saudi Arabia and other regional friends
Iʼve told all of them that they need to do more
The Iran-backed group from Yemen has been real-active in the Red Sea area doing stuff that worries everyone (especially hitting commercial ships and targeting US vessels). Their actions which started around Nov-2023 are tied to whats happening between Israel and Gaza
The militant group says its doing these attacks to help Palestinians — but their actions are making the whole Red Sea area super-risky for normal ships trying to do business. The US gov believes that getting more help from Arab countries is key to fixing this mess; however progress has been kinda slow
The whole situation is getting more complex as days go by with the Yemen-based fighters using drones and missiles to target ships: this creates big problems for global trade routes. Local Arab nations responses have been mixed which makes Lenderkingʼs job even harder
