WASHINGTON — Amid growing fears of famine and congressional misgivings about US support for the Saudi-led air war in Yemen, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis threw their support behind UN Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths’ peace efforts, calling for all parties to the conflict to observe a cessation of hostilities and agree to attend peace talks next month, likely in Sweden.

“The time is now for the cessation of hostilities, including missile and UAV strikes from Houthi-controlled areas into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” Pompeo said in a statement Tuesday. He said that subsequently, coalition airstrikes “must cease in all populated areas in Yemen.”

While a State Department official said the United States wants to see Houthi missile strikes into Saudi Arabia end first, he did not say that was a condition for calling on the Saudi-led military coalition to end their airstrikes into populated areas of Yemen.

“What we’re calling for is an immediate cessation of hostilities,” State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told journalists at the State Department today. We “want the parties to engage in the consultations in good faith. We believe a cessation of hostilities is the best basis for that.”