President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Tuesday that the United States would stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen, insisting that the rebel group had agreed to stop attacking U.S. ships in the Red Sea.
“They’ve announced to us at least that they don’t want to fight anymore,” Trump said during an Oval Office photo-op with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that.”
“And, they have capitulated,” he added. “But more importantly, they — we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.”
This image taken from video provided by the U.S. Navy shows an aircraft launching from the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea before airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 15, 2025.
AP
The move caps off weeks of costly attacks and threats delivered by the Trump administration, which led to a major shakeup of the president’s national security team.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Oman confirmed the announcement in an X post on Tuesday.
“Following recent discussions and contacts conducted by the Sultanate of Oman with the United States and the relevant authorities in Sana’a, in the Republic of Yemen, with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides,” the Foreign Ministry of Oman said in the statement.
“In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping,” it added.
However, Mohammed Ali al Houthi, a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, said the Houthis are not immediately agreeing to the U.S.-proposed ceasefire.
The Houthis will “evaluate” the U.S. ceasefire proposal “on the ground first,” he posted on X Tuesday afternoon.
When asked by ABC News for more details on the announcement, U.S. Central Command deferred to the White House.
Trump was pressed by reporters for more details about how the deal with the Houthis came together, but he quickly said the announcement isn’t a deal.
President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, May 6, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
“They’ve said, ‘Please don’t bomb us anymore, and we’re not going to attack your ships,'” he said.
When asked who told the U.S. that the Houthi attacks on U.S. ships would stop, Trump demurred, saying it “doesn’t matter” and then adding that it was from a “very, very good source.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance laughed and said they agreed with him.
“They don’t want to be bombed anymore,” Trump repeated.
Rubio added that “this was always a freedom of navigation mission.”
“These guys, these are, you know, a band of individuals with advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping,” he said. “And the job was to get that to stop.”
The U.S. began airstrikes in Yemen against Houthi targets starting March 15 and has conducted over 800 strikes, according to the U.S. military.
On April 18, an American strike on the Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others in the deadliest known attack of the American campaign.
However, the U.S. military has taken some hits as well.
The U.S. military has lost seven Reaper drones since March 15, each drone costing $30 million, and an F/A-18E fighter jet rolled off the side of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and sank to the bottom of the Red Sea two weeks ago. No one was killed in that incident.
The USS Harry S. Truman possibly made a sudden movement due to Houthi fire, ultimately causing the fighter jet to roll off it, according to a U.S. official, who cited initial field reports. The incident is still under investigation, but the aircraft carrier has previously been targeted by the Houthis.
In this March 16, 2025, file photo, Yemeni people sweep shattered glass from their houses and shops following the United States aerial attacks launched over the Houthi-held capital Sana’a and other provinces, in Sana’a, Yemen.
Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images, FILE
Israeli forces have also conducted strikes on Yemen for the past two days, striking its main port on the Red Sea, two cement factories and the Sanaa airport.
The Israeli government said these strikes were in response to Houthi strikes on Israel on Sunday, and the Israel Defense Forces said it targeted Houthi infrastructure in Yemen in the strikes.
While Trump claimed the U.S. mission against the Houthis has been a “freedom of navigation” mission from the beginning, the conflict in the Red Sea between the Houthis and U.S.- and British-flagged vessels has been occurring since Oct. 8, 2023.
The Houthis said they would attack vessels connected to Israel’s allies in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza after Israel launched a military operation against Gaza following the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since then, the Houthis have been targeting vessels they say are connected to Israel’s allies in the Red Sea to various degrees of severity over the past 19 months. The U.S. ratcheted up the conflict three days before Israel ended the temporary ceasefire with Hamas, resuming military operations in Gaza on March 18. The U.S. launched its first strike against the Houthis on March 5.
The Trump administration has spent weeks trying to save face over its own planning of attacks in Yemen after it was revealed that top national security members, including then-national security adviser Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, communicated plans about the impending attacks on Signal.
The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally invited to one of the Signal group chats and saw details about the planning.
Last week, Trump announced Waltz would be leaving his Cabinet position and would be nominated as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
