Rubio Meets Saudi Foreign Minister on Yemen, Hormuz and Regional Security

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Washington on Monday to discuss regional security, Yemen and maritime navigation. Al Jazeera

Prince Faisal arrived in Washington on September 28 for the talks, which were reported on September 29, 2026. U.S. News The two ministers reviewed cooperation on regional security and stability. Iran, Gaza, Sudan and Yemen were all on the agenda.

Shipping security was a separate part of the talks. Rubio and Prince Faisal discussed safety of shipping and freedom of passage through the Strait of Hormuz. They also discussed protection of navigation through the Bab al-Mandeb strait off the coast of Yemen. Both are chokepoints, narrow waterways where oil tankers and cargo ships must pass close together.

The talks covered Yemen and rising fighting with Yemen's Houthis, who are described as aligned with Iran. That confrontation with Saudi Arabia intensified in September 2026 with a new Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia. Reuters

The exchange went in both directions. The Houthis fired dozens of drones and missiles at Saudi military targets. The Houthis then said Saudi Arabia struck Yemen with 54 strikes over 24 hours. AFP

During the same Washington visit, Rubio held separate talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Salam urged Washington to help implement the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, meaning an agreement to stop fighting.

This was not their first contact this year. Rubio spoke with Prince Faisal on March 4, 2026 about regional stability. Reuters Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors, the defensive missiles used to shoot down incoming attacks, amid its standoff with the Houthis and has asked regional and Western allies for help. AP Gulf Arab states postponed planned talks with Iran in September 2026.

The broader context here is that the agenda links two chokepoints, Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb, to two diplomatic tracks, calming Yemen and Gulf dialogue with Iran. Interceptor supply, freedom of navigation and the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire give the United States several points of leverage, and give Saudi Arabia and Lebanon distinct requests to test. Whether those threads advance together or stall separately will shape the next round of contacts.