From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 23, 2024
Top Trump aide vows to redesignate Houthis as Foreign Terrorist Organization
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser pick Mike Waltz knocks the 2021 decision by Joe Biden’s administration to remove the Houthis’ designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and pledges to reverse the move, which had been pushed by progressive Democrats due to fears that it was hampering international efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in Yemen.
“I guarantee what you’re going to see very soon is a redesignation of them for what they are — a terrorist organization,” Waltz says in a podcast interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.
The Biden administration did restore the Specially Designated Global Terrorist designation for the Houthis last year, but stopped short of reviving the more severe FTO label for the same reason that Biden removed it.
Waltz acknowledges that a humanitarian crisis does exist in Yemen but insists that Democrats took the wrong approach.
On Iran, the top Trump aide says the Islamic Republic now faces a choice.
“Is this a moment where they say we are completely exposed, therefore we rush towards a nuke? Or is this a moment they say, ‘We are completely exposed. [Let’s not] provoke the Israelis by rushing toward a nuke? We’ll see which way they go… I don’t want to reveal our hand, but we’re watching very closely,” Waltz says.
