President Donald Trump said the U.S. would stop bombing the Houthis "effective immediately" because they reached out through a "very good source" to surrender. 

“They don’t want to fight anymore. They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word that they will not be blowing up ships anymore,” Trump told reporters Tuesday during a White House meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis effective immediately,” the president said without offering more details.

“I think that’s very positive,” Trump said. “They were knocking out a lot of ships.”

What about Israel?

While the Houthis have apparently agreed not to target commercial ships crossing the Strait of Yemen, as they had been doing since November 2023, they did not agree to stop bombing Israel, nor was Israel a party to the cease-fire.

Israel didn't even know about the agreement before it happened, and was reportedly irritated by the agreement.

Daily attacks on the Houthis by the U.S. military had cost $750 million just in munitions, not to mention operating two aircraft carriers, accompanying warships, and aircraft.

The Houthis also destroyed seven U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones costing more than $30 million each.

An F/A-18 fighter jet and tug from the carrier USS Harry S. Truman was also lost when it fell off the carrier as it tried to avoid a Houthi missile.

Time will tell

The Houthis had not actually fired on a commercial ship since December, senior analyst Gregory Brew said on X.

“They are likely, however, to continue shooting at Israel,” he pointed out.

The Houthis had been attacking the ships to show support for Hamas and Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and killed 1,200 civilians, raped women and girls, and took more than 200 hostages.

While they are likely to continue to target Israel, Trump seems to be satisfied if they let American commercial ships alone and stop attacking them as they try to get through the strait.

Time will tell if this is a good strategy on Trump's part--he typically supports Israel to the fullest.