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Mr Pompeo released a statement where he said that the “United States calls on all parties to support UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in Yemen”. He said both the missile and UAV strike from the Iranian backed Houthi rebels and government coalition forces needed to end. The secretary of state added: “A cessation of hostilities and vigorous resumption of a political track will help ease the humanitarian crisis as well. “It is time to end this conflict, replace conflict with compromise, and allow the Yemeni people to heal through peace and reconstruction.”

Prior to the statement, the US has primarily avoided mentioning the conflict in Yemen despite the country selling the majority of the weapons used by Saudi Arabia to the Gulf country. Mr Pompeo's comments follow the Saudi government admitting they had premeditately murdered the dissident Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. Multiple countries, including Germany, have halted arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the murder of Mr Khashoggi. US Secretary of Defence James Mattis has also called for a ceasefire in Yemen within 30 days.

Mike Pompeo calls for an end to airstrikes in Yemen

James Mattis has also called for an end to airstrikes

He said: "The longer-term solution, and by longer-term, I mean 30 days from now, we want to see everybody sitting around the table, based on a ceasefire, based on a pullback from the border, and then based on ceasing dropping of bombs, that will permit the UN special envoy — Martin Griffiths, who's very good, he knows what he's doing — to get them together in Sweden and end this war. "We've got to move toward a peace effort here and we can't say we're going to be doing this sometime in the future. "We need to be doing this in the next 30 days." While the conflict started out as part of the Arab Spring, Saudi Arabia joined it in 2015 and formed a coalition with the UAE to back Yemeni government forces.

Saudi Arabia is facing international pressure following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi

We are not party to the conflict, we do not control any flight paths, the coalition is acting in defence of a legitimate government Alistair Burt

The UK and US still have not halted their arms sales to the Kingdom with the US still planning to continue a $110billion (£84.8billion) deal. Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt has previously condemned the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, but said the UK was not ending any planned deals it has with Saudi Arabia. He said: “We are not going to throw our hands in the air and terminate our relationship with Saudi Arabia, not just because of the huge number of British jobs that depend on it but also because if you exert influence over your partners you need to be able to talk to them.” Middle East minister Alistair Burt told the Commons on Tuesday: "We are not party to the conflict, we do not control any flight paths, the coalition is acting in defence of a legitimate government.”

People carry a child's coffin next to a sign that says 'America kills Yemen's children'