Trump Moves to Redesignate Houthis as Foreign Terrorists

Newly recruited members of the Houthi group attend a protest march against the U.S.-led strikes on Yemen and the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Feb. 21, 2024. Osamah Abdulrahman/AP Photo

President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order Jan. 22 aimed at naming Ansar Allah, better known as Houthi rebels, a foreign terrorist organization.

Trump’s executive order directs the State Department, now led by former Sen. Marco Rubio, to submit a report on the proposed designation within 30 days. It instructs the department to act on that report within 15 days of when it is issued.

Earlier in the day, the president spoke with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, regarding $600 billion in new trade and investments. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been in an armed conflict for a decade.

“It is the policy of the United States to cooperate with its regional partners to eliminate Ansar Allah’s capabilities and operations, deprive it of resources, and thereby end its attacks on U.S. personnel and civilians, U.S. partners, and maritime shipping in the Red Sea,” the order states.

Former President Joe Biden delisted the group as a terrorist organization in 2021. The first Trump administration placed the Houthis in that category shortly before Trump left office.

The latest move comes after months of conflict between the U.S. Navy and the Iran-backed group, which primarily operates in Yemen. Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken appealed to the Houthis to cease their attacks in March 2024.

In November, two American warships in the Red Sea, the USS Stockdale and the USS Sprunce, successfully intercepted missiles and drones aimed at those ships. The Houthis claimed to have been targeting another U.S. vessel, the USS Abraham Lincoln. U.S. forces disrupted a similar attack from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in late 2023.

The Houthis have attributed their actions to solidarity with Palestinians against Israel against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war. Representatives of those parties signed a cease-fire agreement in Doha, Qatar, that came into effect just one day ahead of Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

Trump’s new executive order also instructs the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to examine relationships USAID may have with Houthi-controlled entities.

National security expert Clare Lopez, the founder and president of Lopez Liberty LLC, lauded the move, saying the Houthis ought to have remained on the foreign terrorist list.

“We can expect shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab area to open back up again, easing international shipping in a significant way,” she said in a message to The Epoch Times, predicting further coordination against the Houthis by the U.S. and its allies and partners.