Washington is in talks with Yemen’s Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in a bid to end the country’s war, a top US official said on Thursday, the first such contact in more than four years. The negotiations open a direct channel between President Donald Trump’s administration and the Huthis amid the threat of a broader regional conflict with Iran. It also comes as the rebels have stepped up missile and drone attacks on neighbouring Saudi Arabia, a key US ally which heads a military coalition against the Huthis.