US Secretary of State John Kerry said Saudi Arabia would not agree to a ceasefire in the Yemen war and was unlikely to negotiate with the Houthis.

“We think that the Saudi leadership is not serious about going back to the negotiating table,” Kerry told reporters on Monday.

The US and its allies are now focused on securing the support of the UN Security Council for a US-brokered ceasefire to be put in place.

The ceasefire will allow the UN to deploy peacekeepers in Yemen, which the Saudis and their allies deny is a sovereign state.

Kerry also reiterated the US commitment to provide $1bn in aid to Yemen, a promise he made in March.

Kerry said the US would “not go down the path of making a decision based on an assessment that we’ve seen in the past that people who we believe are in some way at risk are not actually at risk, and we’re going to continue to support those people”.