The Houthis had shot down several multi-million dollar US drones and were still firing at naval ships, among them an aircraft carrier.
Some Pentagon planners were concerned that the number of precision munitions used was depleting stockpiles that might be needed elsewhere.

US officials said that aside from the seven MQ-9 drones the Houthis shot down — each with a $30 million price tag — the Yemeni group nearly hit several F-16 jets and an F-35 stealth fighter, raising the specter of US casualties.

On April 28 the USS Truman aircraft carrier was forced to make a sharp turn to avoid Houthi fire, several officials said, a move that caused, in part, a fighter jet to fall overboard. Over the next week, a Houthi missile hit Ben Gurion airport in Israel, and another F-18 jet fell overboard from the aircraft carrier.

A US official said that in late April, a video call between US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Saudi and Emirati officials did not produce agreement on how to move forward.

American and Arab officials said that Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, brought up an Omani suggestion that the US stop the bombing, and the Houthis would agree to halt firing at US ships in the Red Sea as an offramp.

Ah that's great -- that's beautiful -- some deal Trump made...

The deal would not include an agreement to stop firing at other shipping that the Houthis see as tied to Israel, a campaign, along with the direct attacks on Israel, that the Iran-backed group launched in support of Gaza amid the ongoing war there.

By May 5 Trump was ready to end the campaign, according to over a dozen current and former officials with knowledge of talks in the president’s national security circle. His announcement of a truce with the Houthis came two days later.

Houthis and their supporters spread the news on social media with the hashtag, “Yemen defeats America.”