US Held Secret Oman Meeting With Houthis Days After Saudi Says Drone Was Intercepted Near Mecca

Since the Houthis seized Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline last week and routed Saudi-backed forces, Washington has gone from routing intelligence to Riyadh through CENTCOM to sitting down directly with the group. Reuters reported Wednesday that US officials met Houthi representatives at the American embassy in Muscat, Oman, over the weekend, a previously undisclosed meeting that five sources confirmed took place.

The meeting happened Sunday, according to one source, with Oman's government helping arrange it. Embassy personnel represented Washington. The Houthi delegation included Mohammad Abdulsalam, a senior official who remains under US sanctions, and Abdelmalik al-Ajiri, according to Reuters, Iran International, and Modern Diplomacy, which all cited the same reporting.

According to two of Reuters' sources, the Houthis told US officials they had no intention of attacking American vessels and remain committed to the ceasefire Washington struck with the group in May 2025 after two months of US airstrikes. One Yemeni source told Reuters the Houthis went further, saying they would spare Israeli ships and all commercial vessels except those flagged to Saudi Arabia.

The State Department did not confirm the meeting took place. A spokesperson told Reuters only that protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and preventing the spread of terrorism from the Middle East remain core US interests.

The outreach lines up with public comments from the president and vice president. Trump said Saturday the Houthis had phoned his administration asking the US to stay out of the Yemen war. Vance said Monday the US is in direct contact with the group without giving details, according to Reuters. Separately, Reuters has reported Washington told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who called Trump last week seeking military support, that it would not become directly involved in the fighting.

Mecca Comes Under Fire

The diplomatic track runs alongside a sharp battlefield escalation. Saudi Arabia said Wednesday its air defenses intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone before it entered airspace over Mecca, according to CNBC. Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki called it "a deliberate act intended to provoke the feelings of millions of Muslims" and said the city's security is a "red line."

The Houthis rejected the claim outright. Spokesperson Hazem al-Assad called it "a worn-out lie that has been used before and no longer fools anyone," per CNBC. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the alleged strike as "heinous."

Saudi Arabia issued a security alert for Mecca on Tuesday, its first since the Houthis last targeted the sacred area with a ballistic missile in 2017. Iran International also reported that Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed separate attacks Wednesday on an airbase in Khamis Mushait and Aramco facilities in Yanbu; Saudi Arabia did not confirm either strike.

The Tension Nobody's Resolving

There's a real contradiction here. The Trump administration designated the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization in March 2025, criminalizing support for the group. Now US officials are sitting across a table from a sanctioned Houthi official in Muscat while the group expands territorial control and keeps launching missiles at Saudi Arabia, a country Washington has fought a decade-long shadow war alongside as a coalition partner.

A fair critic, particularly one skeptical of the arrangement, would ask whether the US just cut a side deal that protects American and Israeli shipping while leaving Saudi Arabia to absorb the Houthi offensive alone. None of the sourced reporting confirms that as an explicit quid pro quo. The Houthis' pledge to spare US and Israeli vessels while continuing to target Saudi ones was their own stated position, not a term Washington negotiated in exchange for anything. But the optics are striking: an ally seeking military help was told Washington would not get directly involved, while its adversary got a private meeting. This is not going unnoticed in Riyadh.

Oil markets are pricing in the uncertainty. Brent crude and US West Texas Intermediate futures hovered near four-month highs of $107.8 and $104.6 a barrel respectively, per CNBC, even as prices ticked lower Wednesday and Hormuz shipping volumes showed signs of recovery.

What happens next depends on whether the Oman channel produces anything durable. The Houthis have made verbal commitments before. The open question is whether Riyadh, watching Washington negotiate directly with the group attacking its pipelines, airbases, and now allegedly its holiest city, still sees the United States as a reliable guarantor of its security or as a power quietly managing its own exposure while the war grinds on.