Iran-backed Houthi rebels warn against joining Saudi Arabia in Yemen's
growing civil war
[September 21, 2026]
By SAMY MAGDY
CAIRO (AP) — A senior official with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels is
warning countries against joining Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s revived civil
war, telling The Associated Press on Sunday that his group has assured
the Trump administration that it won’t attack U.S. vessels in the Red
Sea.
Mohamed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, said
Washington reached out to the rebels after their rapid advance down
Yemen’s western coast to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this month.
“We confirmed that we are not targeting the United States, or any other
nation, in the strait, with the sole exception of the Saudi enemy,” he
told the AP in a Zoom interview from the rebel-held Yemeni capital,
Sanaa. “That remains the case.”
U.S. President Donald Trump last weekend said his administration has
“had discussions” with the Houthis, but did not say when. “The Houthis
called us, and they don’t want to fight with us,” he said. “They would
much prefer not having us involved, and they’re letting most ships go
through.”
The AP later reported that Oman hosted a meeting between U.S. and Houthi
representatives last weekend, citing a Houthi official and another
individual familiar with the talks. They spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to brief the media.
However, al-Bukhaiti only confirmed indirect contacts with U.S.
officials through longtime mediator Oman, which brokered a 2025
ceasefire between the Houthis and the Trump administration. That ended a
weekslong U.S. bombing campaign against the rebels in return for them
ceasing attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea.
“The goal of our military operations is not to close the Bab el-Mandeb
Strait, but rather to ensure freedom of navigation through it for
everyone, including Yemen,” he said.
The Houthis claim they can fight a war on multiple fronts
Al-Bukhaiti said the rebels have the capacity to fight a war on multiple
fronts “should any nation become implicated in the aggression against
Yemen alongside Saudi Arabia.”
“Today, Yemen is capable of waging battle — not merely an internal
conflict, but an international one as well,” he said.
He said the Houthi attacks against neighboring Saudi Arabia will persist
until Riyadh ends its decade-long blockade on rebel-held areas in Yemen
and allows vessels to reach Houthi-controlled ports on the Red Sea. Then
they will be ready to negotiate, he said.
Al-Bukhaiti blamed Saudi Arabia for the latest escalation of violence in
Yemen, which he said erupted after an airstrike blamed on the Saudi-led
coalition fighting the rebels hit the Sanaa international airport. The
strike prevented an Iranian flight carrying a Houthi delegation to land.
The flight was a Houthi attempt to challenge the coalition's air and
naval blockade.
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Supporters of Yemen's Houthi rebels shout slogans during a rally in
support of the group and to protest Saudi Arabia's accusation that
the Houthis targeted Islam's holiest site, Mecca, in Sanaa, Yemen,
Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
The Houthis responded with missile and drone strikes on Saudi
Arabia, including one that targeted Riyadh on Saturday before being
intercepted. Saudi officials said debris from a Houthi drone also
killed one civilian and injured others.
The Houthis also declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Bab
el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea, attacking Saudi-linked vessels and
oil facilities inside the kingdom, the world's top oil exporter.
The Saudis and their allies have long struggled to contain the
Houthis, and may be tempted to seek a diplomatic solution to halt
attacks. That might ultimately require U.S. concessions to Iran, the
only country with leverage over the Houthis. But Washington's
negotiations with Tehran over their own war fell apart weeks ago.
“We have not closed the door to peace," Mahdi al-Mashat, president
of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, the top executive body,
said in a speech Sunday marking the anniversary of their 2014
takeover of Sanaa.
The U.S., which bombed the Houthis under the Biden and Trump
administrations, has shown no interest in getting involved
militarily this time around.
The rebels believe power has shifted in their favor
The rebels' advance inside Yemen seized the crucial port city of
Mokha and key Red Sea islands that allow them to better monitor
shipping traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb, through which some 12%
of world trade normally passes.
The Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, long divided into
factions, withdrew but have vowed to regroup.
The escalation ended a 2022 ceasefire that largely ended fighting in
Yemen's civil war, which started when the Houthis swept in from
their mountainous heartland and seized much of northern and central
Yemen, including Sanaa, 12 years ago.
The Saudi-led coalition entered the war the following year on behalf
of the internationally recognized government. The civil war killed
at least 150,000 people, according to U.N. estimates, and pushed the
country to the brink of famine.
Now, with Houthis in control of Yemen's western coast overlooking
the Red Sea shipping corridor, “the balance of power has shifted in
favor of the Sanaa government,” al-Bukhaiti said, referring to the
rebels' de facto authorities there.
“Ultimately, (Saudi Arabia) lost its most critical card: the west
coast,” he said.
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