President Donald Trump has declared that the U.S. would cease bombing the Houthis in Yemen, saying that the Iran-aligned militia had agreed to stop interfering with vital Middle Eastern commerce lines.
Following Trump’s declaration, Oman announced that it had negotiated the cease-fire agreement, indicating a significant shift in Houthi policy since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October 2023.
According to the deal, neither the US nor the Houthis will attack the other, including US vessels in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, Oman stated.
The statement from Oman did not mention whether the Houthis had agreed to stop attacks on Israel.
The head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, said the group would continue to support Gaza and that such attacks would continue.
The U.S. intensified strikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis this year, to stop attacks on Red Sea shipping. Rights activists have raised concerns over civilian casualties.
Qatar and Kuwait welcomed the ceasefire deal in separate statements on Tuesday, expressing hopes for the step to secure freedom of navigation.
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.
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 United States and Britain replied with air strikes on Houthi targets in an effort to keep the critical Red Sea commercial route open, which accounts for approximately 15% of world shipping activity.
After becoming president of the United States in January, Trump chose to drastically increase air strikes against the Houthis.
The campaign began after the Houthis announced that they would resume attacks on Israeli ships transiting through the Red and Arabian Seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.
