US president orders aid agency to cut ties with entities that have paid rebel group or opposed efforts to counter it.
United States President Donald Trump has set in motion a process to redesignate Yemen’s Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, the White House has said.
Trump’s executive order signed on Wednesday directs Secretary of State Marco Rubio to submit a report concerning the designation within 30 days after consultation with the director of national intelligence and the secretary of the treasury.
Rubio would then have 15 days to “take all appropriate action” concerning the designation of the rebel group, also known as Ansar Allah.
Trump’s order to review the Houthis’ status is essentially a formality as a follow-up statement from the White House confirmed that Rubio, who called for the redesignation during his time as a senator, had been directed to recommend the listing.
Trump listed the Yemeni group as a “foreign terrorist organisation” and “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT) entity during the final days of his first term.
Former US President Joe Biden’s administration reversed Trump’s designations weeks after coming into office, with former Secretary of State Antony Blinken citing “recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen”.
The Biden administration reimposed the SDGT designation – the narrower of the two classifications – in January last year in response to the rebel group’s repeated attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The White House said in its statement that Biden’s “weak policy” had resulted in the Houthis firing on US Navy warships dozens of times, targeting commercial vessels more than 100 times and attacking civilian infrastructure in partner nations.
“Under President Trump, it is now the policy of the United States to cooperate with its regional partners to eliminate the Houthis’ capabilities and operations, deprive them of resources, and thereby end their attacks on US personnel and civilians, US partners, and maritime shipping in the Red Sea,” the White House said.
Once the Houthis are relisted, Trump’s order also instructs the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to “end its relationship” with entities that have made payments to the group, or opposed efforts to counter it “while turning a blind eye” towards its “terrorism and abuses”.
Trump’s order came just hours after the Houthis announced they had released the crew of the Galaxy Leader cargo vessel, which was seized by the Iran-aligned group shortly after the start of Israel’s war in Gaza.
The group’s Supreme Political Council said it had granted the release of the 25 crew members as part of its efforts to support the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which began on Sunday.
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