US formally redesignates Yemen’s Houthis as foreign terrorist organization

The United States formally redesignates Yemen’s Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization,” according to a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The announcement is in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s announcement three days after entering office last month.

The move imposes harsher economic penalties than Joe Biden’s administration had applied to the Iran-aligned group, known formally as Ansar Allah, in response to its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and against US warships defending the critical maritime chokepoint.

At the start of his presidential term in 2021, Biden had dropped the terrorist designation that was applied by Trump during his first term, aiming to address humanitarian concerns inside Yemen. Confronted with the Red Sea attacks, Biden last year designated the group as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” organization. But his administration held off on applying the harsher foreign terrorist organization designation.