Mattis Calls For Ceasefire In Yemen 'Within 30 Days'

Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday called on all participants in Yemen's civil war to reach a ceasefire and meet for peace talks.

"Thirty days from now we want to see everybody around a peace table based on a ceasefire, based on a pullback from the border and then based on ceasing dropping of bombs that will permit the [United Nations] special envoy, Martin Griffiths—he's very good, he knows what he's doing—to get them together in Sweden and end this war," Mattis said at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.

"We've got to move toward a peace effort here, and you can't say we're going to do it sometime in the future," Mattis added. "We need to be doing this in the next 30 days. We've admired this problem for long enough down there, and I believe that the Saudis and the Emirates are ready, and in fact had the Houthis not walked out of the last effort that Martin Griffiths had going, we'd probably be on our way there right now."

Pompeo echoed Mattis' call for a ceasefire in a statement, saying, "The United States calls on all parties to support U.N. Special Envoy Martin Griffiths in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in Yemen."