WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President said Tuesday that he's ordering a halt to nearly two months of U.S. airstrikes on Yemen's Houthis, saying the have indicated that 鈥渢hey don鈥檛 want to fight anymore鈥� and have pledged to stop attacking ships along a vital global trade route.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately,鈥� Trump said at the start of his Oval Office .
That likely means an abrupt end to a , when Trump promised to use 鈥渙verwhelming lethal force鈥� after the on Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen in response to Israel's mounting another blockade on the Gaza Strip.
At the time, they described the warning as affecting the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Arabian Sea.
Trump said the Houthis had indicated to U.S. officials that 鈥渢hey don鈥檛 want to fight anymore. They just don鈥檛 want to fight. And we will honor that, and we will stop the bombings.鈥�
His announcement came the same day that against the Houthis that it said fully disabled the international airport in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. Israel鈥檚 attacks were its on targets in Yemen in retaliation for a Houthi missile strike Sunday on .
A U.S. official said the administration had not notified Israel of the agreement with the Houthis before Trump talked about it publicly.
Israel, according to this official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic talks, was irked by the unexpected news 鈥� particularly because the Houthis have continued to launch attacks on Israel proper and other Israeli targets.
Israel does not appear to be covered by the U.S.-Houthi agreement.
Appearing before reporters again later Tuesday, this time for the swearing-in of senior adviser and special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump was asked about the possibility that the Houthis would continue to attack Israel and responded, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know about that, frankly.鈥�
鈥淏ut I know one thing, they want nothing to do with us,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檝e let that be known through all of their surrogates and very strongly.鈥�
Trump calls ending airstrikes 鈥榩ositive鈥�
In his comments during the earlier meeting with Carney, Trump said the Houthis had "capitulated but, more importantly, we will take their word that they say they will not be blowing up ships anymore. And that's what the purpose of what we were doing.鈥�
鈥淚 think that's very positive," Trump added. "They were knocking out a lot of ships."
Asked how the Houthis had communicated that they were looking to stop being targeted by U.S. bombs, Trump offered few details, saying only with a chuckle that the information came from a 鈥渧ery good source.鈥�
Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, confirmed that the U.S. bombing campaign was ending, posting on X that discussions involving the U.S. and Oman, as well as negotiators in Yemen, 鈥渉ave resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides.鈥�
鈥淚n the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping,鈥� he wrote, calling the agreement a 鈥渨elcome outcome.鈥�
In a statement, the Houthis said that its position toward Gaza hadn鈥檛 changed and its 鈥渋nitial understanding鈥� with the U.S. would not impact its support for the Palestinians. It wasn鈥檛 clear in the statement whether it was on board with the agreement with the U.S.
Costs of U.S. operation against the Houthis
The costs of the U.S. munitions used against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen in daily attacks since March 15 have totaled more than $750 million, another U.S. official said. The Trump administration has dropped more than 2,000 munitions on more than 1,000 targets, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details on the strikes.
The total is only a fraction of the total costs of the operation. It doesn鈥檛 account for the costs of operating two aircraft carriers, their accompanying warships or the flight hours of the aircraft.
It also doesn鈥檛 include the , at a cost of more than $30 million apiece, or and tug from the carrier USS Harry S. Truman when it maneuvered to avoid a Houthi missile and the jet fell off the carrier.
Despite Trump鈥檚 framing of the deal as a way to reopen the Red Sea to commercial shipping without fear of Houthi attack, 鈥渢he Houthis have not fired on a commercial ship since December,鈥� Gregory Brew, a senior analyst with the Eurasia Group risk-analysis firm, said on X.
鈥淭hey are likely, however, to continue shooting at Israel,鈥� Brew noted.
鈥淎s to the Houthis continuing to attack Israel - they do so at Iran鈥檚 own peril,鈥� Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., .
Houthi attacks on shipping
The Houthis had been waging against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group鈥檚 leadership has described as an effort to end Israel鈥檚 war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
From November 2023 until January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and . That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.
The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the U.S. launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March.
Those strikes Trump had ordered were similar to ones carried out against the Houthis multiple times by the administration of his predecessor, Democratic President .
The Trump administration actions gained a higher profile in the public consciousness when The Atlantic revealed that Hegseth had against the Houthis on a group chat in the messaging app Signal that mistakenly included the magazine鈥檚 editor-in-chief.
Trump stood by Hegseth and downplayed the breach as a 鈥済litch.鈥� But national security adviser , who created the group chat on Signal, left his post last week and has been by Trump to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Tara Copp and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.
Will Weissert, The Associated Press
