The Obama administration sent counterterrorism chief, John Brennan, to Saudi Arabia to meet with embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh over the weekend. Brennan is presumed to have urged Saleh not to return to power, suggesting aid to the Middle East’s poorest nation will resume only if he steps down. Brennan reportedly urged Saleh to sign a pledge drafted by the Gulf Cooperation Council that would see the Yemeni president relinquishing control of Yemen in exchange for immunity. Saleh has been receiving treatment in Saudi Arabia for serious injuries he sustained in a rocket attack on his compound weeks ago and has yet to return to Yemen. The United States has long supported Saleh’s authoritarian rule over the past 33 years.