Trump claims Houthis ‘don’t want to fight’ and says US will stop bombing campaign

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State Department condemns Houthis as Israel strikes port city: ‘We intend to stop them’

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss where the U.S. stands as war intensifies in the Middle East and the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war as the Trump administration pushes for peace.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the U.S. will stop its bombing campaign against the Houthis in Yemen after the terrorist group told him they “don’t want to fight.”

“They just don’t want to fight,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office. “They just don’t want to, and we will honor that. We will stop the bombings.”

Trump said the bombings on Houthi targets will stop “effectively immediately.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio then said the “job” was to get attacks on ships in the region to stop.

ISRAEL CALLS TO EVACUATE YEMEN AIRPORT AMID FIGHT WITH HOUTHIS

Newly recruited Houthi fighters attend a protest march against the U.S.-led strikes on Yemen and the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in Sanaa, Yemen.  (AP/Osamah Abdulrahman)

“If that’s going to stop, we will stop,” he added.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce reiterated to reporters on Tuesday that Rubio always saw the problem with Houthis in the Red Sea as a freedom of navigation issue.

“These are a band of individuals with advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping, and the job was to get that to stop,” she said.

ISRAEL STRIKES YEMEN’S PORT CITY IN RESPONSE TO HOUTHI ATTACK ON TEL AVIV AIRPORT

US President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 6, 2025. (Jim WATSON / AFP)

Trump said the “very good news” came in last night from a “very good source,” though he would not confirm who it was. 

“They have capitulated,” the president said, adding that the U.S. “will take their word.”

“They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore. And that’s what the purpose of what we were doing,” he added in reference to the U.S.’s aerial operations. 

HOUTHI MISSILE STRIKES NEAR ISRAELI AIRPORT AFTER EVADING MISSILE DEFENSES

President Donald Trump observes U.S. military action against the Houthis on March 15. (The White House)

The U.S. since mid-March has hit some 800 Houthi targets, according to an April 27 statement by U.S. Central Command. 

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The news comes as Israel appears to be ramping up military strikes on the Houthis in northern Yemen, particularly in the capital city of Sana’a, which is under Houthi control.

Trump did not provide any details on how the U.S. will continue to counter Iranian aid to the Houthi terrorist network.

Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news.