Officials of the United States (US) administration held an undisclosed meeting with representatives of Yemen’s Houthis in Oman over the weekend, five sources familiar with the matter told an international media outlet.
The meeting took place at the US Embassy in Muscat days after the Houthis seized a strategic stretch of Yemen’s Red Sea coast in an offensive against Saudi-backed forces, according to the reports.
The meeting took place at the US Embassy, while two other two sources stated that Oman helped arrange the talks. One source said that the meeting took place on Sunday.
The Houthis told the US officials that they had no plans to attack American vessels and remained committed to the ceasefire reached with Washington DC in 2025.
One Yemeni source also added that the Houthis told the US side that they would not attack Israeli ships or commercial vessels, except those belonging to Saudi Arabia.
US embassy personnel represented Washington at the meeting, according to two sources.
The Houthi delegation included senior official Mohammad Abdulsalam, who is based in Muscat and remains under US sanctions, one source said. Another source confirmed that Abdulsalam attended along with senior Houthi official Abdelmalik al-Ajiri.
The US State Department did not confirm the meeting.
“We have no comment on this specific reported meeting,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and preventing the spread of terrorism from the Middle East remained core US interests.
The meeting took place despite the Trump administration designating the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization” in March 2025. Washington has nevertheless held talks with the group and reached a ceasefire with the Houthis in May 2025 after a two-month US bombing campaign aimed at stopping attacks on Red Sea shipping.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the Houthis had contacted his administration and asked the US to stay out of the Yemen war. Vice President (VP) JD Vance said on Monday that Washington was in direct contact with the group without providing further details.
The meeting followed a Houthi offensive that gave the group effective control of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, including the port of Mocha and Perim Island near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital in 2014 and have fought a Saudi-led coalition for more than a decade. Fighting had eased under a ceasefire in recent years but resumed in July after the Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea in response to a Saudi blockade of Yemeni ports.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) sought US military support from Trump last week as Houthi forces advanced, but Washington told Riyadh that it would not directly enter the conflict, an international media report claimed.
