The U.S. and its allies are raising the stakes in their struggle to curb ship attacks by Houthi militants in the Red Sea by increasingly blocking their revenue sources, a move that could jeopardize a peace deal intended to end an almost decade-long war in Yemen.
Washington has told parties including Saudi Arabia that key elements of a United Nations-led plan committed to in December can’t go ahead unless the Iran-backed group ends its near seven-month hostile maritime campaign, said several people who met recently with U.S. officials. That would have included the disbursal of at least $1.5 billion in civil-servant salaries by Riyadh to Houthi-controlled territories, according to a person involved in negotiating the deal.
A U.S. State Department official, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, said President Joe Biden’s administration supports peace in Yemen to address longstanding economic and humanitarian crises in the country. But he emphasized that agreements tied to the so-called UN road map can only proceed if the Houthis stop the Red Sea attacks, which began in November ostensibly to put pressure on Israel to end its war in Gaza.
The move demonstrates how U.S. and U.K. airstrikes against the Houthis since early January have done little to deter the group, whose missile attacks and hijackings have upended shipping through one of the main arteries for global trade. Yet the shelving of the…
