WASHINGTON — Oman said it mediated a ceasefire deal between Yemen’s Houthis and the U.S., marking a major shift in the Iran-aligned group’s policy since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in Oct. 2023.
Neither side will target the other, including U.S. vessels in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, Oman said in its statement.
The statement made no mention of the Houthi attacks on Israel.
Earlier, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would stop bombing the Houthis, saying the group had agreed to stop interrupting important shipping lanes in the Middle East.
“They said please don’t bomb us any more and we’re not going to attack your ships,” Trump said. “And I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis effective immediately.”
Despite the president's announcement, U.S. military operations against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels were continuing for hours afterwards, multiple defense and U.S. officials told NBC News. They said no order had gone down range to cease military operations, the officials said.
Speaking at a swearing-in ceremony later on Tuesday, Trump said, "We just informed them a little while ago and all action is stopping," but "some people probably haven't heard yet."
"I think the attacks are going to stop both ways," he said.
Asked about reports that the Houthis are planning on continuing attacks against Israel, Trump said, "I don't know about that, frankly. I know one thing: They want nothing to do with us."
Pressed on how the U.S. would respond to any attacks on Israel, Trump said, “I’ll discuss that if something happens with Israel and the Houthis.”
The Yemeni group started attacking shipping lanes after the war in Gaza started, saying it is in support of Palestinians.
In March, Trump launched Washington’s biggest military operation under his administration against the Houthis during which hundreds of Yemenis were killed. Rights activists have raised concerns over civilian casualties.
There was no immediate response from the Houthis.
The Houthis have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea since Israel began its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the Palestinian militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Trump said Washington will take the Houthis’ word that they would not be blowing up ships any longer.
The U.S. military has said it has struck more than 1,000 targets since its current operation in Yemen, known as Operation Rough Rider, started on March 15. The strikes, the U.S. military said, have killed "hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders."
Tensions have been high since the Gaza war began, but have risen further since a Houthi missile landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, prompting Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah port on Monday.
The Israeli military carried out an airstrike on Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa on Tuesday, its second attack in two days on Iran-aligned Houthi rebels after a surge in tensions between the group and Israel.
Under former President Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. and Britain retaliated with air strikes against Houthi targets in an effort to keep open the crucial Red Sea trading route — the path for about 15% of global shipping traffic.
After Trump became U.S. president in January, he decided to significantly intensify air strikes against the Houthis. The campaign came after the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden.
On April 28, a suspected U.S. airstrike hits a migrant center in Yemen, and Houthi TV says 68 people were killed in one of the deadliest attacks in six weeks of intensified U.S. strikes.
