Saudi defense minister says he discussed Houthi attacks in call with Hegseth

Saudi Arabia's defense minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, says he spoke by phone with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about efforts to calm tensions across the Middle East and about attacks on the kingdom by the Houthis, the armed movement based in Yemen. The Times of Israel reported the prince's account, which said the two men also covered strategic defense cooperation between their countries and wider regional and international developments.

The Israeli broadcaster N12 carried the same news on its Arab world desk, citing a Reuters report that described the conversation as dealing with de-escalation in the region and with Houthi attacks from Yemen that are still continuing against Saudi territory. The Jerusalem Post also reported the exchange, framing it as Riyadh and Washington discussing ways to reduce regional tension while the Houthi strikes go on.

Who took part

Prince Khalid bin Salman serves as Saudi Arabia's minister of defense. Pete Hegseth heads the US Department of Defense, whose headquarters is the Pentagon outside Washington. The two have met in person before: photographs published alongside the reports by The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post show Hegseth hosting the Saudi minister at a welcoming ceremony at the Pentagon on February 24, 2025.

All of the reports rest on the Saudi side's description of the call. None quotes a statement from the Pentagon or from Hegseth himself, so the account published so far reflects what the Saudi minister chose to make public about the conversation.

The Houthis and Saudi Arabia

The Houthis are an armed movement in Yemen, the country that borders Saudi Arabia to the south on the Arabian Peninsula. The reports describe their attacks on the kingdom as ongoing, and the Saudi minister's decision to raise them directly with his American counterpart signals that Riyadh regards them as a security matter it wants Washington engaged on. The reports do not describe the nature, scale or targets of the recent attacks.

For readers following Israel, the Houthis matter beyond the Gulf. The movement is widely seen as part of the network of groups aligned with Iran, and any shift in how Saudi Arabia and the United States handle it can bear on the security picture Israel faces in the wider region.

The wider diplomatic backdrop

The call was reported on a day dominated by talk of a possible settlement between the United States and Iran. In the same live coverage, The Times of Israel listed several related items: US President Donald Trump saying Iran wants a settlement as soon as possible and that it could happen; Vice President JD Vance saying he and Trump feel good about the prospects for a negotiated deal; and a diplomat saying Qatari mediators had returned to Tehran for talks with Iranian negotiators on an agreement with the United States.

The Saudi readout does not link the Hegseth call to those negotiations, and none of the reports draws that connection. What the account does show is that de-escalation, the word used by both Saudi Arabia and the outlets covering the call, was a central theme of the conversation, at a moment when several channels of regional diplomacy appear to be active at once.

How the sources compare

The three reports agree on the core facts: the two defense chiefs spoke, the subjects included easing regional tensions, and the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia were raised. The Times of Israel adds that the contact was a phone call and that strategic defense cooperation was on the agenda. N12 attributes its information to Reuters rather than to the Saudi statement directly. The Jerusalem Post item available to us consists mainly of its headline and photograph caption, so it adds little detail beyond the basic event. There is no disagreement between the sources on substance.

What the reports do not say

No American account of the call has been reported, so it is not known how Hegseth or the Pentagon characterised the conversation or whether any commitments were made. The reports give no detail on what steps toward de-escalation were discussed, what defense cooperation measures were on the table, or what, if anything, Washington offered in response to the Houthi attacks. The date of the call itself is also not stated in the material.