Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, described the failure to renew the truce with the Houthis, which expired on Oct. 2, as “concerning” but refused to speculate about whether Iran had played a role in preventing an extension.
Speaking during a briefing on Wednesday, Lenderking said the Houthis made “last-minute” demands that meant they were “essentially backtracking from commitments they had made earlier in the process.” Asked whether the regime in Iran, which backs the Houthis, might be responsible for this, Lenderking said: “We don’t know.”
Tehran supported the UN-backed, two-month truce when it was agreed on April 2, he said, and also when it was renewed without issue on June 2 and Aug. 2. He attributed the failure this month to agree a third extension to “maximalist and impossible demands” made by Houthi negotiators regarding the payment of salaries to their “military and security personnel.”—AN
