President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced this week that the United States will cease all bombing campaigns on the Houthi group in Yemen, following weeks of intensive strikes. However, experts caution that the Iran-supported faction is unlikely to remain inactive.
During Trump’s announcement from the Oval Office on Tuesday, he stated that the Houthis “just don’t want to fight…and we will honor that. We will stop the bombings.”
The president declined to reveal who had informed him of this decision from the group, which has long posed a significant threat to freedom of navigation by attacking U.S. and allied ships in the Red Sea. When questioned, he humorously responded that it came from a “very good source.”
Less than two hours later, Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, the foreign minister of Oman, took to X to say, “Following recent discussions and contacts conducted by the Sultanate of Oman with the United States and the relevant authorities in Sana’a, in the Republic of Yemen, with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides.”
Houthi supporters gather to attend a rally in protest of the United States’ airstrikes on Yemen and Israel’s ongoing strikes in the Gaza Strip in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the current executive director of the FDD, called Oman’s role in negotiations between Washington and Middle East adversaries “outrageous.”
“To hold them up as responsible intermediaries when they are in fact hosting the very group that we’re trying to dismantle, there’s very little logic [in] this position,” he told Fox News Digital.
The report found that Iranian arms are smuggled into Yemen through the port of Hodeidah – which was targeted in a series of Israeli strikes on major infrastructure in and around the Houthi-controlled capital of Sana’a this week – but also through smaller ports or overland through Oman.
Omani private banking institutions and businesses are also reportedly known to be “servicing the Houthi economy and even supplying the group with arms.”
“More must be done to prevent bulk cash smuggling across the border between Oman and Yemen,” Heistein found. “Muscat must begin to feel pressure from the international community to address a threat finance challenge that has gone unchecked for too long.”
The report breaks down the varied steps that need to be taken to effectively undermine and counter the Houthis as repeated military strikes by first, Saudi Arabia starting in 2015, then recently by the U.S. and Israel, have not significantly degraded the terrorist group.
Houthi fighters walk over British and U.S flags at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and the recent Houthi strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Feb. 4, 2024, on the outskirts of Sana’a, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
Those steps include continued military action – similar to Israel’s recent strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah port and Sana’a International Airport, which are expected to have far-reaching economic impacts and increase internal pressure on the Houthis. But military action alone isn’t enough; economic, diplomatic, and other soft power strategies are also needed to weaken the group, according to the report.
The report also highlighted that the Houthis have utilized previous lulls in fighting with nations like Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and Israel to regroup and rebuild.
“Compelling the Houthis to halt attacks on shipping is a meaningful achievement only if it is part of a broader, long-term strategy,” Heistein told Fox News Digital. “However, if a Red Sea ceasefire becomes the centerpiece and endpoint of U.S. policy toward the Houthis, it risks empowering an increasingly dangerous regime to escalate and de-escalate at will.
“Without a comprehensive approach to addressing the Houthi threat, the U.S. and its allies could soon be confronting a more dangerous, better-armed terrorist group,” Heinstein warned.
