Record / E-2026-0044
Ceasefire with the Houthis announced May 2025 holds for United States vessels while other shipping is attacked
On May 6, 2025, Trump said of the Houthis: They've said, Please don't bomb us anymore, and we're not going to attack your ships, and announced that all action is stopping. Oman, which brokered the agreement, stated that in the future neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait. On May 13, 2025 in Riyadh, Trump described the scope more broadly, saying they were not going to be targeting commercial ships in any way, shape, or form or anything American. In a paper published August 13, 2026, the Center for Strategic and International Studies stated that the May 2025 ceasefire has held even amid the Iran war. In July 2025 the Houthis attacked and sank two bulk carriers not covered by the bilateral pledge.
Context
The scope of the agreement and the scope as described from the podium differ, and that difference is the whole finding. The Omani broker's statement commits the parties not to target each other, including American vessels; it states freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping as an aim rather than an enumerated protection, and it does not extend cover to Israeli-linked or third-party shipping. The Riyadh formulation of May 13, 2025 describes a broader protection covering commercial ships in any way, shape, or form. Events within nine weeks matched the narrower text: on July 6 and 7, 2025 the Houthis attacked the bulk carriers Magic Seas and Eternity C, both outside the bilateral pledge. All 22 crew of the Magic Seas were rescued with no deaths. Casualty figures for the Eternity C differ by source and date and are recorded here as a timeline rather than a single number: Reuters reported four killed on July 9, 2025, and by July 14 the ship manager's tally was ten rescued, six believed taken, and nine confirmed or presumed dead out of 22 crew and three guards. No United States vessel has been reported struck since the agreement. A note on the exclusion of Israel: it is visible in the May 6 transcript, where Trump was asked what happens if the Houthis continue to attack Israel and answered that he would discuss it if something happened, but a first-person Houthi statement to that effect could not be verified at intake. This entry is a success under a narrow definition and not under a broad one, and it states which.
Sources
The document identifier is the citation. The URL is a resolution mechanism, and the archived copy is what the citation resolves to when the live link dies.
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Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada and an Exchange With Reporters
DCPD-202500563, May 6, 2025
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Remarks During a Swearing-in Ceremony for Steven C. Witkoff
DCPD-202500565, May 6, 2025
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Remarks at the Saudi-United States Investment Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
DCPD-202500598, May 13, 2025
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Trump says bombing of Yemen to stop as Oman confirms US-Houthi ceasefire, Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera, May 6, 2025, quoting Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi
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Red Sea crisis boils over as Houthis claim sinking of Magic Seas, gCaptain
gCaptain, July 7, 2025
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Eternity C sinks in Red Sea, search underway for 15 still missing
Reuters via gCaptain, Maltezou, Souliotis, and Saul, July 9, 2025
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Search for Eternity C survivors called off as death toll rises, gCaptain
gCaptain, July 14, 2025
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The Houthis Enter the Iran War and Everything Gets Worse, CSIS
CSIS, Michael Ratney, August 13, 2026