Trump re-designates Iranian-backed Houthis as terrorists: ‘Threaten[s] security of American civilians’

President Trump on Wednesday re-designated the Houthis as a terrorist group, reversing a Biden administration move. (Getty Images)
FOX NEWS | Published January 23, 2025

Trump’s order listed several attacks made by the group in recent years

President Trump re-designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) on Wednesday, four years after his first administration made an identical move.

In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump said that the terrorist group “threaten[s] 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.”

“Supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF), which arms and trains terrorist organizations worldwide, the Houthis have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times since 2023, endangering American men and women in uniform,” the order noted.

Trump also documented that “numerous” attacks that the terrorist group has conducted over the years, including “multiple attacks on civilian airports in Saudi Arabia, the deadly January 2022 attacks on the United Arab Emirates, and more than 300 projectiles fired at Israel since October 2023.”

“The Houthis have also attacked commercial vessels transiting Bab al-Mandeb more than 100 times, killing at least four civilian sailors and forcing some Red Sea maritime commercial traffic to reroute, which has contributed to global inflation,” the order added.

Trump administration designated the Houthis as an FTO in January 2021. In a Wednesday press release, the White House noted that the Biden administration immediately reversed it.

“As a result of the Biden administration’s weak policy, the Houthis have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times, launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure in partner nations, and attacked commercial vessels transiting Bab al-Mandeb more than 100 times,” the White House said on Wednesday.

Lebanon Israel Foreign Fighters
Iranian-backed Houthis rally in Yemen outside Sanaa, Jan. 22, 2024.  (AP Photo, File)

“The Executive Order directs the Secretary of State, in consultation with others, to recommend the re-designation of the Houthis within 30 days.”

 

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SOURCE: www.foxnews.com

RELATED: Trump Redesignates Iran-Backed Houthi Rebels As Terrorist Organisation, Reversing Biden

The action will result in stricter economic sanctions compared to those imposed by the Biden administration on the Iran-aligned group.

Trump Redesignates Houthi Rebels As Terrorist Organisation | Image: AP
THE REPUBLIC WORLD | Published January 23, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday re-designated Yemen’s Houthi movement, known formally as Ansar Allah, as a “foreign terrorist organisation”. The action will result in stricter economic sanctions compared to those imposed by the Biden administration on the Iran-aligned group. These sanctions were in response to their attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and on U.S. warships protecting the vital maritime chokepoint.

Supporters of the decision argue that it is long overdue, although some experts warn that it could affect anyone perceived to be supporting the Houthis, including certain aid organisations.

“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 Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have carried out over 100 attacks on ships in the Red Sea since November 2023. They claim these actions are in solidarity with Palestinians amidst Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza. They have sunk two vessels, seized another, and caused the deaths of at least four seafarers.

The attacks have disrupted global shipping, compelling companies to redirect their routes through longer and costlier journeys around southern Africa for over a year.

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 U.S. military sought to intercept Houthi attacks to safeguard commercial traffic and waged periodic strikes to degrade Houthi military capabilities. However, it did not target the group’s leadership.

At the start of his presidential term in 2021, Joe Biden had dropped Trump’s terrorist designations to address humanitarian concerns inside Yemen. Confronted with the Red Sea attacks, Biden last year designated the group as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” organisation. But his administration held off on applying the harsher FTO designation.

 

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SOURCE: www.republicworld.com

 

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