Jan. 23 (UPI) — President Donald Trump moved on Wednesday to re-designate the Iran-proxy Houthi militia as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, as he continues to undo the policies of former President Joe Biden during his first days back in office.
Trump had applied the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation against the Houthi rebels, known officially as Ansar Allah, during the final days of his first administration in 2021 — a designation that Biden revoked a month later in response to humanitarian groups’ warnings that the label and sanctions would prevent civilians from accessing needed aid.
The Houthis have been locked in a civil war against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government for a decade, creating what the United Nations has said is “one of the largest humanitarian crises of our time” with more than 4.3 million people internally displaced and 21.6 million in dire need of aid.
Emboldened by Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas, another Iran-backed group, the Houthis have enforced a military blockade of the all-important commercial trade route of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November of 2023, attacking ships that pass, claiming they are in solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Houthis have conducted some 160 attacks from Yemen targeting commercial and U.S. naval ships during the blockade, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
The Biden administration, whose focus was trying to prevent the Israel war from expanding throughout the Middle East, responded by launching the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian security initiative and numerous strikes into Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, hitting targets to degrade the group’s military capabilities.
It also imposed rounds of sanctions against the group and designated it a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in January of last year.
The move by Trump will impose even stricter sanctions on the Houthis.
In Trump’s executive order on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has 15 days to “take all appropriate action” to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization and 30 days to submit a report concerning the designation.
“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.
He also directed the U.S. Agency for International Development to end its relationship with entities with ties to the Houthis and to review U.N. partener, non governmental organizations and contractors operating in Yemen.
The announcement to re-designate the Houthis was swiftly condemned by anti-poverty and injustice nonprofit Oxfam International, which said it is “yet another blow to Yemenis caught in 10 years of deadly conflict.”
“We’ve seen before the devastating impacts of President Trump’s previous designation on Yemeni communities: in the months preceding the designation and during the week it was in effect, imports of necessities like food, medicine and fuel all dropped and the economy fell into further crisis and the humanitarian situation deteriorated,” Scott Paul, Oxfam America’s director of peace and security, said in a statement.
“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.”
On the other hand, Moammar al-Eryani, Yemen’s minister of information, culture and tourism, said in a statement that they “welcome” the re-classification, stating it is an important step toward “confronting this militia that continues to threaten regional and international security.”
The move from Trump comes as the Houthis have shown interest in reducing tensions in the region amid the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that was brokered during the final days of the Biden administration.
On Wednesday, the Houthis announced the release of crew members from a Japanese ship the militia had seized at the start of its blockade.