War

Matthew Petti | 5.7.2025 10:35 AM

The month was January 2025. The Houthis were not attacking American ships, and the U.S. was not bombing Yemen. The month is May 2025. The Houthis are not attacking American ships, and the U.S. is not bombing Yemen. In between, there was a whole lot of bombing.

President Donald Trump claimed victory over the Houthis on Tuesday afternoon, after several months of a U.S. air campaign against them. "They just don't want to fight, and we will honor that, and we will stop the bombings," he told reporters at the White House. Shortly after, the foreign ministry of Oman—the famously neutral sultanate bordering Yemen—announced that it had brokered a U.S.-Yemeni ceasefire deal "ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping."

In fact, the Houthi movement, one of the two rival governments in Yemen, has not attacked commercial ships since the beginning of Trump's term, when Trump brokered a ceasefire in Gaza. (The Houthis had started the attacks in November 2023, demanding such a ceasefire.) Trump began an air campaign in Yemen three days before the Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire broke down. The new Yemeni ceasefire is simply a return to the status quo ante bellum, at least with regard to shipping.

Although no American troops have died during Trump's war in Yemen, the campaign has been incredibly costly for U.S. military preparedness. The military spent $1 billion in just the first three weeks, a U.S. official

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