US Opens Houthi Talks

U.S. officials held direct talks with Houthi representatives in Muscat, Oman, over the weekend, with Oman helping arrange the meeting. The talks followed a Houthi push along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, where gains near the Bab al-Mandab strait raised fears for a key shipping chokepoint. The group remains under a U.S. terrorist designation. In the meeting, Houthi representatives said they would not attack U.S. or Israeli vessels and would keep the Red Sea open to non-Saudi shipping. They said Saudi-linked ships would still be targets. Saudi Arabia now faces pressure to seek a settlement or assemble a wider coalition, while Washington’s next move remains uncertain.