The move will authorize harsher penalties on the Iran-backed group, which has attacked Israel and disrupted global shipping trade in the Red Sea for over a year.
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to redesignate Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a “foreign terrorist organization,” calling the group a threat to regional security, the White House said. Critics argued the move will worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis in the country.
The order restores a designation given to the group, which is backed by Iran and formally known as Ansar Allah, late in the first Trump administration. The Biden administration lifted the designation shortly after taking office, partly to facilitate peace talks in Yemen’s civil war.
Last year, however, the Biden team reversed course, labeling the Houthis a “specially designated global terrorist” organization — a less severe category — in response to attacks against U.S. warships in the Red Sea.
“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 on Wednesday.
Mr. Trump’s executive order said U.S. policy would seek to “eliminate Ansar Allah’s capabilities and operations,” in cooperation with regional partners. It also called for the U.S. Agency for International Development to review the operations of United Nations partners, private aid agencies and contractors working in Yemen and to sever ties with any entities that have made payments to the Houthis or opposed international efforts to counter the group.
Yemen is home to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than 18 million people — over half the population — requiring assistance, according to the United Nations.