{"id":29112,"date":"2019-01-14T16:24:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T16:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=29112"},"modified":"2019-01-14T16:24:05","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T16:24:05","slug":"pompeo-cuts-mideast-tour-short-to-attend-family-funeral-after-talks-with-saudi-king-crown-prince","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=29112","title":{"rendered":"Pompeo cuts MidEast tour short to attend family funeral after talks with Saudi king, crown prince"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Pompeo cuts MidEast tour short to attend family funeral after talks with Saudi king, crown prince<\/h2>\n
\n

\nDUBAI: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will cut short his Middle East tour and head home early to attend a family funeral, an official said on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSecretary Pompeo will return to the United States after his meetings in Muscat, Oman,\u201d State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.
\u201cThis curtailment of travel is required so that the Pompeo family may attend a family funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe trip was cut short after Pompeo met with the Saudi king and crown prince in what is the latest stop of his Middle East tour that has so far been dominated by questions and concerns about the withdrawal of US troops from Syria.<\/p>\n

\nIn Riyadh, though, the Saudi-led fight against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen, where the situation has been deemed the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crisis, will be a major agenda item, as well as holding perpetrators accountable for Khashoggi\u2019s slaying, according to US officials.<\/p>\n

\nSpeaking with senior Saudi officials on his arrival in Riyadh late Sunday, Pompeo stressed the importance of supporting a political solution to end Yemen\u2019s civil war and \u201cthe need for continued regional efforts to stand against the Iranian regime\u2019s malign activity and to advance peace, prosperity, and security,\u201d the State Department said.<\/p>\n

\nPompeo has accused the Houthi militia in Yemen of failing to comply with a cease-fire agreement for the flashpoint city of Hodeidah reached at UN-sponsored talks in Sweden.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe work that was done in Sweden on Yemen was good, but both sides (need) to honor those commitments,\u201d Pompeo said.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cToday, the Iranian-backed Houthis have chosen not to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe US embassy in Riyadh said Monday that Pompeo and Prince Mohammed \u201cagreed on (the) need for continued de-escalation and adherence to (the) Sweden agreements,\u201d especially the cease-fire in the lifeline port city of Hodeidah.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cA comprehensive political solution is only way to the end the conflict,\u201d the embassy tweeted.<\/p>\n

\nThe department said Pompeo also made clear the importance of a credible investigation into Khashoggi\u2019s killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October. Pompeo \u201cemphasized the importance of Saudi Arabia continuing its investigation into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in order to ascertain facts, assess information, and hold those responsible accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe will continue to have a conversation with the crown prince and the Saudis about ensuring that the accountability is full and complete with respect to the unacceptable murder of Jamal Khashoggi,\u201d Pompeo told reporters in Qatar on Sunday before heading to Riyadh. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to talk about that and make sure we have all the facts so that they are held accountable certainly by the Saudis, but by the United States as well, where appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe ongoing dispute between Qatar and four of America\u2019s other close Arab partners will also feature in Pompeo\u2019s talks as it continues to be a major hindrance in a US-led effort to unite the Gulf Arab states, Egypt and Jordan in a military alliance to counter Iran.<\/p>\n

\nBahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates began a boycott of Qatar in June 2017, accusing Qatar of funding extremist groups and cozying up to Iran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pompeo cuts MidEast tour short to attend family funeral after talks with Saudi king, crown prince DUBAI: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will cut short his Middle East tour and head home early to attend a family funeral, an official said on Monday. \u201cSecretary Pompeo will return to the United States after his meetings…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":29113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}