U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke on Tuesday by phone with his Qatari counterpart following a decision by Arab powers to cut ties to the Gulf ally, a Pentagon spokesman told Reuters, without disclosing the details of their discussion.

The U.S. State Department approved a $2 billion sale of missiles to the United Arab Emirates, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The Pentagon declined to say on Monday whether the USS Mason destroyer was targeted by multiple inbound missiles fired from Yemen on Saturday, as initially thought, saying a review was under way to determine what happened