United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to inform him of the US "military deterrence operations" against Yemen's Houthi rebels, according to the State Department.

Rubio "emphasized that continued Houthi attacks on U.S. military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated."

The two officials also discussed the future steps necessary to restore communication between their two countries after their recent meeting in Saudi Arabia.