The State Department on Tuesday officially designated Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), cementing President Donald Trump’s executive order from January.
“Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective way to curtail support for terrorist activities,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, adding that the United States “will not tolerate” countries that do business with “terrorist organizations like the Houthis.”
Trump added the Houthis to the FTO list in an executive order shortly after returning to the White House, the Washington Free Beacon first reported. “The Houthis’ 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 order reads.
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted American and Israeli vessels in the Red Sea since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October 2023.
“Since 2023, the Houthis have launched hundreds of attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as U.S. service members defending freedom of navigation and our regional partners,” Rubio said in the Tuesday statement.
Trump designated the Houthis as an FTO during his first term, but former president Joe Biden reversed the designation within weeks of taking office in 2021. He then gave the group a weaker designation last year. The Trump White House in January criticized the Biden administration’s “weak policy,” vowing to “eliminate the Houthis’ capabilities.”