Reuters reported this week that US officials sat down with Houthi representatives at the American embassy in Muscat over the weekend — a meeting the two sides have kept under wraps until now. Oman’s government brokered the sit-down, which came just days after the Houthis routed Saudi-backed forces and took control of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coastline.
Houthi representatives assured US officials they wouldn’t go after American ships, citing their ongoing commitment to the 2025 ceasefire with Washington. One source told Reuters they drew a similar line around Israeli and other commercial vessels — sparing everyone except Saudi Arabia’s fleet.
This came after US President Donald Trump rebuffed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s personal appeal for US military support against the advancing Houthis. US Vice President JD Vance told reporters Monday that Washington had its own direct line to the Houthis, though he declined to give specifics. Two days earlier, Trump had said the group itself reached out asking the US not to get involved in the war.
Sponsored · Selkirk Copper Mines
Read: Why Trump Keeps Saying No to Direct Strikes on the Houthis
State Department officials sidestepped questions about whether the meeting happened, falling back on standard talking points about safeguarding shipping routes through the Red Sea and pushing back on terrorism in the region. Neither Oman nor the Houthis offered any public reaction.
Riyadh hasn’t commented on the Reuters report directly, but its actions in the surrounding days speak for themselves. Saudi Arabia was behind the decision to postpone a separate Oman-hosted meeting between Gulf states and Iran, according to Tehran — talks meant to work out terms for reopening Hormuz to normal shipping. Saudi aircraft have continued hitting Houthi targets in Yemen, and the Houthis have hit back inside the kingdom, including a strike on a military airbase in Khamis Mushait that triggered a brief emergency alert.
Mohammed bin Salman, meanwhile, has been working the relationship where Washington actually offered something concrete, meeting CENTCOM chief Admiral Brad Cooper in Jeddah to coordinate the intelligence-sharing and targeting help the US agreed to provide in place of direct strikes.
