US President Donald Trump set up a motion in January to redesignate Yemen’s Houtis.
The US has designated Yemen’s Hooti movement, officially known as Ansal Allah, as a “foreign terrorist” organization, the US State Department said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the department has restored its designation. This involves sanctions and penalties for those who provide “material support” to the group.
“Houthis’ activities pose a threat to the safety of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
“The United States will not tolerate countries that engage with terrorist organizations like Hoosis in the name of practicing legitimate international business,” he added.
US President Donald Trump set up the process in January, the White House said at the time.
Trump also listed the Yemeni group as a “foreign terrorist” organization and listed “specially designated global terrorist” (SDGT) organizations on the last day of his first term.
However, former President Joe Biden’s administration overturned Trump’s designation a few weeks after he took office, with former Secretary of State Antony Blinken citing “awareness of Yemen’s dire humanitarian situation.”
In a statement in January, the White House said Biden’s “weak policies” fired dozens of shots on U.S. Navy warships, targeting commercial vessels more than 100 times, and attacking civilian infrastructure in partner countries.
“Under President Trump, it is now US policy to work with local partners to eliminate Hoosys’ capabilities and operations, take away resources, and thereby end attacks on U.S. staff and civilians, U.S. partners, and maritime transport in the Red Sea,” the White House said.
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