US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Yemen's Houthis have agreed not to attack the United States, despite the Iran-allied group stepping up its war against US ally Saudi Arabia, Fox News reported.

The network's reporter Trey Yingst, who often talks to Trump, cited the president saying that Washington is “in constant communication with the Houthis and that they've agreed not to fight the United States.”

Trump has made the claim before that the Houthis are holding back from attacking US forces in the region. 

"The Houthis called us and they don't want to fight with us," Trump said during a visit to Ireland on September 12. “They don't want us to go after them.”

But the latest comments to Fox News came as close US ally Saudi Arabia is under growing pressure, with a missile targeting the capital Riyadh on Saturday.

The Houthis have also staged a rapid offensive inside Yemen, seizing swaths of territory from the internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia. Fox News reported that Trump is in "deciding mode" on Iran, where US and Israeli forces launched a massive aerial bombing campaign on February 28 before settling into a now almost-seven-month standoff.

Yingst said Trump told him that "big things will be happening in the not so distant future" and that “Iranians better behave, and he is making this decision as to whether or not to blow up their nation.”

Source: Reuters

– Agencies