President Trump Calls End to Red Sea Crisis

The agreement will also bring an end to US strikes on Houthi positions, according to the White House. File Image / Pixabay

US President Donald Trump has said an agreement between his country and Yemen's Houthi movement will mean ships no longer come under attack in the Red Sea.

"They say they will not be blowing up ships any more, and that's the purpose of what we were doing," President Trump said in comments to the press at the White House on Tuesday.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said his country had facilitated talks between the two sides.

"Following recent discussions and contacts conducted by the Sultanate of Oman with the United States and the relevant authorities in Sana'a, in the Republic of Yemen, with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides," the minister said in a social media post on Tuesday.

"In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping."

The agreement will also bring an end to US strikes on Houthi positions, according to the White House.

"[The Houthis] just don't want to fight, and we will honour that and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated," President Trump said.

Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden began shortly after the outbreak of war in Gaza in late 2023, and have continued largely unabated until this year. The attacks prompted most major shipping companies to avoid the region altogether, favouring longer routes around Africa instead and adding notably to global bunker demand.

Any rapid return of ships to the Suez route would be likely to lead to a slump in bunker demand. But this appears unlikely in the short term until more clarity emerges on whether the route is safe.

While the Houthis have agreed to stop attacking most ships, their conflict with Israel means they are likely to continue targeting Israeli ships when they are able to, and the movement has proven somewhat erratic in the past in the methodology it uses to determine what constitutes a ship linked to Israel.