U.S. Envoys Held Secret Oman Talks With Houthis After Red Sea Coast Seizure, Houthis Pledged Not to Attack U.S. Ships

U.S. officials held a secret meeting with Iran-aligned Houthi representatives in Muscat, Oman over the weekend, The Straits Times reports, after the Houthis seized part of Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The paper says the meeting produced a Houthi pledge not to attack U.S. ships, a commitment that U.S. envoys sought amid growing concern about Houthi control of key Red Sea approaches.

The Straits Times frames the talks as quiet diplomacy conducted outside formal public channels and emphasizes the Houthis’ ties to Iran when describing both the seizure and the Muscat engagement.

The report does not provide direct quotes from U.S. officials or named Houthi figures, and it presents the pledge as the central, reported outcome rather than as a verified, independently documented agreement.

The timing — described only as “over the weekend” in the report — links the meeting to the Houthi takeover of coastline that prompted international alarm over shipping and transit through the southern Red Sea approaches.

The article leaves several key details unconfirmed: it does not name the U.S. officials who attended, specify the precise Houthi representatives, or publish the text of any commitment; it also does not report follow-up verification from either the U.S. government or Houthi spokespeople.

Observers reading the report must therefore weigh a single outlet’s account that the talks occurred and yielded a pledge against the absence of on-the-record confirmations from the parties involved.

If accurate, the Muscat talks would be a notable instance of quiet U.S. engagement with an Iran-aligned force to secure maritime safety after a localized territorial seizure in the Red Sea corridor.

• Only The Straits Times is in this pack; it frames the Houthis as Iran-aligned and the talks as secret and consequential (per The Straits Times).

• No source in this pack corroborates the meeting or the pledge with on-the-record U.S. or Houthi statements; the occurrence and content remain unverified beyond The Straits Times report (per The Straits Times).

• No source in this pack names the specific U.S. officials or Houthi representatives who attended the Muscat meeting.
• No source provides the text or independent verification of the reported Houthi pledge not to attack U.S. ships.
• No source in this pack documents the exact date of the Houthi seizure of the Red Sea coast in Month Day, Year format.

• No numeric discrepancies are present in this pack; The Straits Times does not provide casualty or numeric shipping-impact figures (per The Straits Times).

• The Straits Times links the Muscat talks as occurring after the Houthi seizure of Red Sea coastline; no other source in this pack challenges that sequence (per The Straits Times).

• The Straits Times attributes the pledge to Houthi representatives but does not cite direct quotations or an independent confirming party (per The Straits Times).