The foreign ministers of the G7 nations have issued a joint statement condemning what they called "unacceptable continued strikes" by Yemen's Houthi movement against Saudi Arabia and civilian shipping in the Red Sea, calling on the Iran-aligned group to immediately cease all military actions and return to a political process. The statement, released on Monday following an informal meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, also urged Iran to stop arming and supporting the Houthis, accusing Tehran of violating past UN Security Council resolutions and fuelling dangerous regional instability. The ministers of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States said Iran's backing of the group risked undermining international trade and creating wider global disorder.

The diplomatic pressure comes amid a dramatic and fast-moving military situation on the ground. Houthi fighters have launched a sweeping offensive this month along Yemen's Red Sea coast, capturing key areas near the Bab al-Mandab strait — the narrow chokepoint where the southern Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden, through which Saudi Arabia routes oil exports when passage through the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted. The Houthis are now pushing to seize the Kahboub Mountains in the provinces of Taiz and Lahij, a move that would cut the Red Sea coastline off from government-held territory in the south and allow them to open new fronts, according to Yemeni military sources. The group has simultaneously fired hundreds of drones and missiles at cities and infrastructure in southwestern Saudi Arabia, including a strike on Riyadh near its main airport.

Adding to the confusion, the New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump reversed a decision to launch airstrikes against the Houthis at the eleventh hour — after target lists had been approved and US military personnel had already begun loading bombs onto aircraft selected for the missions. According to the report, citing anonymous administration officials, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump to urgently request American intervention. Trump initially agreed and instructed the Pentagon to prepare strikes, but appeared to reverse course again by midday Sunday. Trump has previously signalled mixed intentions, telling reporters that the Houthis "don't want to fight us" and were allowing ships to pass the strait, while suggesting the problem was confined to Saudi Arabia. The Yemeni president, Rashad al-Alimi, also spoke with Trump on Sunday requesting military support for his internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government, but Trump made no direct pledge, sources said.

The human cost of the escalating conflict is mounting rapidly. The UN estimates that more than 125,000 Yemenis have been displaced since fighting intensified in September, with the city of Taiz receiving up to 86,000 displaced persons. Thousands have fled across the Bab al-Mandab strait by boat to Djibouti, the tiny former French colony on the Horn of Africa that sits just miles from Yemen's coast. At Markazi camp in Obock, northern Djibouti, families describe fleeing indiscriminate bombardment from both sides. "We don't care which side it is that's attacking," said one displaced Yemeni. "It's the bombs falling all around us that have caused us to flee."

Yemen has been mired in civil war since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, triggering a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the recognised government. A UN-brokered ceasefire reached in 2022 had largely held until the recent dramatic collapse. For Washington, the situation poses a compounding strategic dilemma: how to manage pressure from Gulf allies without being drawn deeper into a conflict Trump has been reluctant to re-enter, particularly after US airstrikes against the Houthis were halted earlier in 2025 following a ceasefire agreement. Analysts warn that continued American hesitation risks further eroding trust among key Gulf partners who increasingly view Washington as an unreliable security guarantor.