US President Donald Trump on Wednesday re-designated Yemen’s Houthi movement, as a “foreign terrorist organization,” the White House said.
The move will impose harsher economic penalties than the Biden administration had applied to the Iran-aligned group in response to its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and against US warships defending the critical maritime chokepoint.
Proponents of the move say it is overdue, though some experts say it could have implications for anyone seen as aiding the Houthis, including some aid organizations.
“The Houthis’ activities threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade,” the White House said in a statement.
The group has targeted the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which are joined by the narrow Bab Al-Mandab strait, a chokepoint between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.
Under the Biden administration, the US military sought to intercept Houthi attacks to safeguard commercial traffic and waged periodic strikes to degrade Houthi military capabilities.
Former US President Biden last year designated the group as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” organization. But his administration held off on applying the harsher FTO designation.
British charity Oxfam said the move would worsen the suffering of Yemeni civilians, disrupting vital imports of food, medicine, and fuel.
“The Trump administration is aware of these consequences but chose to move forward anyway, and will bear responsibility for the hunger and disease that will follow,” Oxfam America’s director of peace and security, Scott Paul, said in a statement.
David Schenker, who was assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the first Trump administration, said Trump’s move on Wednesday was an obvious, early step to respond to what he described as one of Iran’s leading proxy forces in the Middle East.
“While the re-designation likely won’t have a positive impact on the group’s behavior, the measure suggests the new administration is not looking to induce (or cajole) the Iranians to negotiations through blandishment,” Schenker told Reuters.
The Trump administration said the US will work with regional partners to eliminate Houthi capabilities, deprive it of resources “and thereby end its attacks on US personnel and civilians, US partners, and maritime shipping in the Red Sea.”
The designation will also trigger a broad review of UN partners, non-governmental organizations and contractors operating in Yemen, the White House said.
“The President will direct USAID to end its relationship with entities that have made payments to the Houthis, or which have opposed international efforts to counter the Houthis while turning a blind eye toward the Houthis’ terrorism and abuses,” the White House said.