After weeks of pounding from America’s military, the Houthi rebels of Yemen have said they will stop attacking Red Sea shipping, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.
“The Houthis have announced that they are not — they have announced to us at least, that they don’t want to fight anymore,” Trump said in a video posted to X. “They just don’t want to fight.”
“We will honor that,” Trump said as he welcomed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to the Oval Office.
“That’s news we just found out about,” Trump said.
“We will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships any more,” Trump said, noting that was “the purpose of what we were doing.”
Pres. Trump announced that the Houthis communicated to the U.S. that they “don’t want to fight any more.” “We will stop the bombings. They have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships any more.”… pic.twitter.com/vqD3uEBZTJ
— ABC News (@ABC) May 6, 2025
Trump said the Houthi campaign to attack shipping on the Red Sea had impacts on shipping far beyond the Middle East.
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“I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately,” Trump said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio added, “This was always a freedom of navigation issue. You had a band of individuals with advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping, and the job was to get that to stop, and if it’s going to stop, then we can stop.”
“They said, ‘Please don’t bomb us any more, and we’re not going to attack your ships,’” Trump said, according to Reuters.
The Houthis have not made a public statement about their intentions.
Houthi attacks began in the aftermath of Israel’s attack on Gaza that was precipitated by the Hamas slaughter of Israeli civilians in October 2023.
America’s military began attacking Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15 after the Houthis said they would end a pause in attacks. American missions have hit more than 1,000 targets since then.
Although the United States may be ending its fight with the Houthis, the Iran-supported group is now being targeted by Israel in response to a missile from Yemen that landed near Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday.
Israeli airstrikes hit targets in Yemen on Monday and Tuesday in response.
In a statement issued after Israel’s latest attack, but before Trump’s announcement, the Houthis made no mention of a pause in attacks on shipping, according to The New York Times.
A Houthi statement said it was fighting a “holy war in aid of the wronged Palestinian people in Gaza” and fighting an “Israeli-American-British” enemy.
“Our military capabilities are advancing with each aggression, and our operations will continue,” it said, adding that attacks “will not end until the aggression and siege on Gaza ends.”
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