Press TV - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has rebuked senators for passing a resolution to end Washington�s support for the Saudi war on Yemen, saying they should back Riyadh if they "truly care about Yemeni lives."

In comments to the media in Washington on Friday,�Pompeo claimed the vote showed that American senators do not care about the Yemeni people.

"If you truly care about Yemeni lives, you'd support the Saudi-led effort to prevent Yemen from turning into a puppet state of ... Iran," he said.

On Wednesday, the Republican-led Senate approved the resolution to halt�US military assistance for�the Saudi�offensive against Yemen by a 54 to 46 tally.

The measure now heads to the Democrat-led House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass.

A similar resolution to end US support for the Saudi war on Yemen passed the Senate in December, but it was not taken up under the then-Republican-controlled House. For the resolution to reach the president�s desk, it will have to go back to the House for approval.

The US provides intelligence sharing, logistics support and other training to the Saudi-led coalition, which has been waging the war on Yemen since March 2015. It also previously helped with mid-air refueling for warplanes operated by Riyadh and its allies, but that assistance ended last November.

Senator Bernie Sanders, a co-sponsor of the resolution, said, "The bottom line is that the United States should not be supporting a catastrophic war led by a despotic regime with a dangerous and irresponsible foreign policy."

Pompeo, however, said the Trump administration believes that suspending the US role would not end the Yemen conflict.

�We all want to improve the dire humanitarian situation. But the Trump administration fundamentally disagrees that curbing our assistance to the Saudi-led coalition is the way to achieve these goals," he said.

Pompeo also argued that the way to �alleviate the Yemeni people�s suffering isn�t to prolong the conflict by handicapping our partners in the fight, but by giving the Saudi-led coalition the support needed to defeat Houthi Ansarullah fighters.

Saudi Arabia and its partners launched the war in an attempt to reinstall Riyadh-allied former regime and crush the Houthis, who have been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government.

The Western-backed aggression against Yemen, coupled with a naval blockade, has destroyed the country's infrastructure and led to famine as well as a cholera outbreak.

So far, the aggressors have been unable to penetrate the defenses of the Yemeni nation and Houthi fighters.