The Iran-backed Houthis are sending two very different messages at the same time: American ships can pass through the Red Sea, they say, but countries that join Saudi Arabia in Yemen could face a wider war.

The split message is a tactical warning, not a peace offer. An armed group is trying to draw its own red lines around one of the most important shipping corridors on Earth.

President Trump told Fox News that the United States remains in contact with the Houthis and that the group has agreed not to fight American forces.

The president’s statement came as Saudi Arabia reported intercepting a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh and the State Department warned Americans across the region to be ready for sudden flight cancellations and airspace closures.

The collision between those developments was captured in this Sunday report:

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The Associated Press reported Sunday that Houthi political bureau member Mohamed al-Bukhaiti said Washington had contacted the group after its rapid advance along Yemen’s western coast.

Al-Bukhaiti said the Houthis had confirmed they would not target the United States or other countries in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with Saudi Arabia as the stated exception. He also said the group could fight on multiple fronts if another nation joined what he called the Saudi aggression against Yemen.

The AP said al-Bukhaiti confirmed indirect contacts through Oman, the longtime regional mediator. That is narrower than a formal agreement, and neither his assurance nor the Houthis’ restraint should be treated as self-enforcing.

The group has already shown how quickly its declarations can collide with events on the ground.

The Saudi Press Agency carried the coalition’s statement that Royal Saudi air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired toward Riyadh early Saturday.

The coalition also said attempted attacks against civilian areas in Bish, Taif, Farasan and Yanbu were thwarted. Riyadh is home to more than eight million people, and Saudi officials accused the Houthis of deliberately escalating against civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The Houthis claimed they targeted sensitive sites in the capital and an Aramco facility in Yanbu. Those claims were not independently established in full.

Reuters footage did show flames and a large plume of smoke near Riyadh’s main airport, but the available reporting did not establish that a Houthi weapon caused that fire. The distinction matters in a fast-moving conflict where both sides are trying to control the narrative.

The strategic stakes reach far beyond Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

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The Bab el-Mandeb connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Any armed group able to threaten that chokepoint can disrupt shipping between Europe and Asia, pressure energy markets and force commercial vessels onto longer, more expensive routes.

President Trump’s approach appears designed to keep American forces and ships out of the Houthis’ immediate line of fire while regional partners confront the renewed Yemen war. That can reduce direct risk to Americans, but it does not erase the danger to Saudi cities, commercial shipping or U.S. interests if the conflict widens.

The State Department’s warning made clear that Washington is not treating the Houthi assurance as a reason to relax.

A promise from the Houthis not to attack U.S. vessels is useful only as long as they keep it. Their simultaneous warning to America’s partners shows exactly why vigilance remains necessary.

President Trump may have opened a channel that protects American ships without committing the United States to another ground war. The harder test is whether that channel can survive the Houthis’ widening fight with Saudi Arabia—and whether the group sees restraint as a lasting boundary or merely a temporary advantage.

 

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