This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The United States has begun the process to again declare the Iran-backed Huthi rebel group of Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), restoring the designation President Donald Trump set out during his first term.
“Supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, which arms and trains terrorist organizations worldwide, the Huthis have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times since 2023, endangering American men and women in uniform,” a White House statement said on January 22.
The statement also referred to the Huthis as Ansar Allah, the name used by the extremist group that has since the 1990s battled the internationally recognized Yemeni government, which is supported by a Saudi-led military coalition.
Trump’s declaration sets in motion a process that will likely conclude within 45 days to officially designate the Huthis as a foreign terrorist organization under U.S. legislation.
During his first term, Trump had designated the Huthis as an FTO, but the action was reversed by the Biden administration over concerns such a listing could prevent desperately needed aid from reaching Yemen.
President Joe Biden did later label the group as a specially designated global terrorist entity, a slightly lower level of sanctioning.
The latest move, one of Trump’s first in his second term in the field of foreign relations, could be an initial step in the “maximum pressure” campaign his team has vowed to renew against Iran, which it blames for supporting extremist activity in the Middle East.
Huthi rebels in 2014 seized much of Yemen’s northwest and its capital, Sanaa, leading to a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and created a humanitarian nightmare in the Arab world’s poorest country.
Many observers described the hostilities as a “proxy war” between Saudi- and Iranian-led groups.
“Since seizing most Yemeni population centers by force from the legitimate Yemeni government in 2014-2015, the Huthis have launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure, including multiple attacks on civilian airports in Saudi Arabia, the deadly January 2022 attacks on the United Arab Emirates, and more than 300 projectiles fired at Israel since October 2023,” the White House statement said.
“The Huthis have also attacked commercial vessels transiting Bab al-Mandeb more than 100 times, killing at least four civilian sailors and forcing some Red Sea maritime commercial traffic to reroute, which has contributed to global inflation.”
The statement added that the rebel group’s activities “threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade.”
The Huthis stepped up attacks on shipping in the Gulf region and fired missiles toward Israel, claiming it was in support of Gaza’s Hamas movement, which has also been declared a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.
The actions brought air strikes by the U.S. and Israeli militaries, but the rebels recently have appeared to pull back on their attacks since the cease-fire in Gaza was reached.