By Timour Azhari, Alexander Cornwell, Gram Slattery and Humeyra Pamuk
Sept 16 (Reuters) - US officials met representatives of Yemen's Houthis in Oman over the weekend, five sources familiar with the matter said, days after the Iran-backed militia seized a strategic stretch of the Red Sea coast in a sweeping offensive that routed Saudi-backed forces.
The meeting, which has not been made public, was held at the US Embassy in Muscat, three of the sources said on the condition of anonymity. Two sources said that Oman's government, a longtime regional mediator, helped organise the meeting.
The Trump administration designated the Houthis a "foreign terrorist organization" in March 2025, criminalising support for the group. But Washington has negotiated with them since, reaching a ceasefire in May last year after bombing the group for two months to halt a campaign of attacks on Red Sea shipping.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday the Houthis had phoned his administration asking the United States to keep out of the Yemen war. Vice President JD Vance said on Monday the US was in direct contact with the group, without giving details.
In the meeting, which one source said took place on Sunday, the Houthis told US officials they had no intention of attacking American vessels and that they were committed to the 2025 ceasefire with the US, two sources said.
One of the sources, a Yemeni, said the militia group also said they would not attack Israeli ships or any commercial vessels, except those belonging to Saudi Arabia.
According to two of the sources, the US side was represented by embassy personnel.
One of those sources said the Houthi delegation included a senior official based in Muscat who is under US sanctions, Mohammad Abdulsalam. Another source confirmed Abdulsalam's presence along with that of another senior Houthi official, Abdelmalik al-Ajiri.
Responding to questions, a State Department spokesperson said: "We have no comment on this specific reported meeting."
The spokesperson also said safeguarding freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and preventing the export of terrorism from the Middle East were core US interests.
Oman's embassy in the US and senior Houthi official Abdulsalam did not respond to requests for comment.
The Houthis last week seized effective control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline, including the historic port of Mocha, and Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb, or "Gate of Tears" strait, at the sea's mouth.
The Houthis, who seized Yemen's capital in 2014, have fought against a Saudi-led coalition for more than a decade. The war had quietened under a ceasefire in recent years, but fighting resumed in July when the Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea in response to a Saudi blockade of Yemeni ports.
Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump last week seeking US military support amid the dramatic Houthi advances. Reuters has reported that Washington told Riyadh it would not get directly involved.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari in Riyadh, Alexander Cornwell in Tel Aviv and Gram Slattery in Washington; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis in Washington; Writing by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Andrew Mills, Peter Graff and Lincoln Feast.)
