Secret Oman meeting: What did Houthis tell US as Saudi Arabia seeks help? - The Indian Express

The United States is not planning direct military intervention to help Saudi Arabia fight Yemen’s Houthis for now, while continuing to provide Riyadh with intelligence and targeting assistance, news agency Reuters reported.

In the confidential meeting, the Iran-backed militant group reportedly assured the US officials that they had no intention of attacking American vessels and that they were committed to the 2025 ceasefire with the United States.

One Yemeni source told Reuters that the Houthis also said they would not attack Israeli ships or other commercial vessels, except those belonging to Saudi Arabia.

The US side was represented by embassy personnel during talks, while the Houthi delegation included senior officials Mohammad Abdulsalam and Abdelmalik al-Ajiri.

US officials met the representatives of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militant group over the weekend, news agency Reuters reported, citing sources, days after the Iran-backed group seized a strategic stretch of the Red Sea coast in an offensive against Saudi-backed forces.

The meeting was held at the US Embassy in Muscat, with Oman helping organise the talks, Reuters reported.

Former US deputy ambassador to Yemen Nabeel Khoury said the Trump administration and Yemen’s Houthis had reached a “kind of tacit understanding” over navigation in the Red Sea.

“The Houthis are promising the American administration that American and international navigation will not be affected in the Red Sea, but the only danger is to Saudi ships or those carrying Saudi oil,” Khoury said,  The Guardian reported.

The Trump administration had designated the Houthis a “foreign terrorist organisation” in March last year, criminalising any backing for the militant group.

However, the United States later held negotiations with the group that resulted in a ceasefire in May 2025 after bombing them for two months over attacks on Red Sea shipping.

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump said that the Houthis had contacted his administration, asking the US to stay out of the Yemen war, while Vice President JD Vance on Monday said that Washington was in direct contact with the group without providing further details.

Last week, the Houthis seized the last government-held towns on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, after forces loyal to the internationally recognised government withdrew. A Houthi military spokesman said the operation had pushed Saudi-backed forces out of six districts covering a total of 5,400 square kilometres, and said hundreds of fighters had been killed, captured or wounded on the other side.

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