US officials held talks with representatives of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis in Oman over the weekend, according to five people familiar with the meeting, days after the group captured a strategic stretch of Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
The previously undisclosed meeting took place at the US Embassy in Muscat, three sources told Reuters. Two said Oman, which has frequently acted as a mediator in regional disputes, helped arrange the talks.
During the meeting, the Houthis told US officials they did not intend to attack American vessels and remained committed to a 2025 ceasefire agreement with Washington, according to two sources.
One Yemeni source said the group also pledged not to target Israeli or other commercial ships, with the exception of vessels belonging to Saudi Arabia.
US embassy personnel represented Washington at the talks, two sources said.
Senior Houthi official Mohammad Abdulsalam, who is based in Muscat and is under US sanctions, attended the meeting, according to one source. Another source said Abdelmalik al-Ajri, another senior Houthi official, was also present.
Asked about the reported meeting, a US State Department spokesperson said there was “no comment on this specific reported meeting,” while adding that freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and preventing the spread of terrorism from the Middle East remained core US interests.
Oman’s embassy in Washington and Abdulsalam did not respond to requests for comment.
The Trump administration designated the Houthis a foreign terrorist organisation in March 2025, criminalising support for the group. Washington nevertheless continued negotiating with the Houthis and reached a ceasefire with them 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 United States to stay out of the Yemen conflict. Vice President JD Vance said two days later that Washington was in direct contact with the group but gave no further details.
The talks followed a major Houthi offensive last week that gave the group effective control of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coastline, including the historic port of Mocha and Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 and have fought a Saudi-led coalition for more than a decade. Fighting had largely subsided under a ceasefire before escalating again in July, when the Houthis announced a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea in response to restrictions on Yemeni ports.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman contacted Trump last week seeking US military support following the Houthi advances, but Washington told Riyadh it did not plan to intervene directly, Reuters previously reported.
