President Trump’s stunning announcement on Tuesday that the Houthis “don’t want to fight anymore” and that America therefore would stop a two-month Yemen bombing campaign caught the Mideast by surprise. Houthi officials denied they planned to stop disrupting Red Sea ship traffic. 

The Houthis have long claimed their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and against Israeli targets were linked to the war in Gaza. “Even if there is an agreement with them, the Houthis will find it hard to give up their military control over Red Sea shipping, and they’ll find excuses to continue attacking,” a Yemen watcher at Israel’s Open University, Inbal Nissim-Louvton, tells the Sun.  

Mr. Trump spoke to the press Tuesday alongside Prime Minister Carney of Canada. In addition to the suspension of Yemen bombing, he said that before flying to the Gulf next week he would “have a big announcement to make, like as big as it gets.” He did not elaborate. Some in the region are speculating that it might be related to a breakthrough in Iran negotiations or a possible Arab-Israeli peace agreement. 

During a White House celebration of Israel’s independence Monday, Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steven Witkoff, said he expected there would be news on the Abraham Accords — peace deals between Arab countries and Israel that were reached during Mr. Trump’s first term in office. The president will fly Monday to begin his first overseas trip since his re-election, taking him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. 

Israeli sources say they were not informed in advance about Mr. Trump’s intention to suspend the American two-month bombing campaign in Yemen. The president said that based on a “reliable source,” the Houthis agreed “last night” to end their Red Sea attacks. He spoke a few hours after Israel Defense Forces jets paralyzed the Sana’a airport in a daring bombing campaign that was reportedly coordinated with the United States Central Command.

“The Houthis have announced that they are not, or they’ve announced to us at least, that they don’t want to fight anymore,” Mr. Trump said at the White House. “They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that’s what the purpose of what we were doing.” So, he added, “we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately.”   

“And Marco,” he said, addressing the state secretary, Marco Rubio, “you’ll let everybody know that.”

Attacks on Israel and on Red Sea shipping “will not stop, regardless of the consequences, until the end of the aggression on Gaza and blockade on its people,” a member of the Houthi political council, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, told Bloomberg. Mr. Trump’s announcement, he added, was “inaccurate.” 

Mr. Trump might have been referring to a tentative diplomatic agreement with the Houthis in talks on the nuclear program of the terror group’s patron, Iran, mediated by Oman. “In the future, neither side will target the other, including U.S. vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping,” the Omani foreign ministry said in a statement.  

Mr. Trump’s announcement came after Israel completed a two-day bombing campaign that paralyzed the Houthi-controlled Hudeidah Port on Monday and destroyed the Sana’a airport on Tuesday. Additional targets included power plants and two concrete factories. Dozens of jets, refueling craft, and cargo planes participated in the operation. 

The sites chosen by the IDF “were exploited by the Houthi regime for energy infrastructure and for the construction of underground tunnels,” it said in a statement. Dubbed “Headstand,” the air force operation was a retaliatory measure after a Houthi missile evaded Israel’s defenses and hit near Ben Gurion airport. The country’s gateway to the world is named after its first prime minister, who was famous for his morning headstands as part of a health-related routine. 

Israel defense minister, Israel Katz, said that the attack was meant to also send a message to the Houthis’ backers in the Islamic Republic of Iran that the long arm of the IDF can reach them, too. 

“Where did a bunch of goat-herding rebels in Yemen get cruise missiles and ballistic missiles?” Senator Cotton asked Tuesday. “When you see a missile coming out of Yemen, you should really think of it as coming out of Iran because if it wasn’t for Iran, financing these rebels and providing them the weapons and teaching them how to make their own weapons, they wouldn’t be able to attack our ship to see they wouldn’t be able to be able to attack our friends in Israel.”

Mr. Trump’s suspension of the Yemen campaign is yet to be tested. Agreements with the Houthis, and with their Tehran patrons, have proved fleeting in the past.