Trump Admin Re-designates Yemen’s Houthis as Foreign Terrorist Organization

The Trump administration has reinstated the Houthis’ terrorist designation, citing increased attacks on U.S. and allied forces in the Red Sea.

Newly recruited members of the Houthi terrorist group attend a protest march against the United States and Israel in Sanaa, Yemen, on Feb. 21, 2024. AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman

The State Department has re-designated Yemen’s Houthi militant group as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), reversing a Biden-era policy that President Donald Trump has blamed for emboldening the group’s attacks on U.S. forces, allies, and maritime shipping in the Red Sea.

“Today’s action taken by the State Department demonstrates the Trump Administration’s commitment to protecting our national security interests, the safety of the American people, and the security of the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a March 4 statement. The FTO designation imposes a travel ban on members of the group and authorizes sanctions on those who provide material support.

The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah or “supporters of Allah,” are a Shiite Islamic faction that has long battled Yemen’s internationally-recognized government and its Saudi allies. Since November 2023, the group has launched over 100 attacks, sinking two ships, seizing another, killing at least four seafarers, and targeting Israel with missiles and drones. The Houthis claim their attacks on Red Sea shipping are retaliation for Israel’s military operations in Gaza against Iran-backed Hamas following its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israeli communities.

“Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective way to curtail support for terrorist activities,” Rubio said, warning that the United States will not tolerate engagement with the Houthis under the guise of legitimate international business. The State Department has offered a $15 million reward for information leading to the disruption of the Houthis’ financial networks.

Trump first designated the Houthis as an FTO as well as a specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) entity in January 2021 but President Joe Biden revoked these designations a month later. At the time, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Houthis’s delisting aimed to protect humanitarian aid to Yemen, given the country’s dire crisis. However, Biden reinstated the SDGT designation in January after a renewed surge of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

Days into his second term, Trump issued an executive order setting in motion the Houthis’s re-designation as an FTO. “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 (”Gate of Grief“) more than 100 times,” Trump’s Jan. 22 order states.

“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 U.S. personnel and civilians, U.S. partners, and maritime shipping in the Red Sea,” the order adds.

The ongoing Houthi attacks have disrupted global trade, forcing shipping firms to reroute vessels around southern Africa, adding costs and delays to international supply chains.

Over the past year or so, U.S. Central Command forces have conducted multiple strikes against Houthi targets in the vicinity of the Red Sea, seeking to disrupt the group’s ability to carry out attacks.