Houthis say US ships won’t be targeted in Red Sea

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have reportedly reassured the Trump administration that they won’t attack U.S. ships in the Red Sea.

Senior Houthi official Mohamed al-Bukhaiti told The Associated Press that the administration reached out to his group earlier this month after Houthis took several towns and islands along Yemen’s western coast, which are crucial to controlling the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

“We confirmed that we are not targeting the United States, or any other nation, in the strait, with the sole exception of the Saudi enemy,” al-Bukhaiti told the AP. “That remains the case.”

President Trump has reportedly rebuffed several requests from Saudi Arabia to launch strikes on the Houthis, with the most recent plea coming Thursday from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The New York Times reported that the president was prepared to launch airstrikes against the Houthis after speaking with the crown prince, but on Sunday he reversed course.

Washington has instead sent advisers to support the kingdom, which has had its key energy pipelines attacked recently and its capital targeted by a ballistic missile over the weekend.

Trump previously took a harder approach to the Houthis, ordering strikes on the group in March 2025 in response to attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea. Those plans were famously shared by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on a Signal chat that included The Atlantic’s editor in chief.

However, the administration is reluctant to become involved with the Houthis this time around, as it is focused on its war in Iran, fighting that has depleted advanced munitions stockpiles and threatened to spill into a wider regional conflict.