Trump calls for redesignating Yemen's Houthis as foreign terrorist organisation

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order calling for designating Yemen's Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation, reversing a decision by former president Joe Biden.

The Trump administration will work to “co-operate with its regional partners to eliminate the Houthis’ capabilities and operations, deprive them of resources, and thereby end their attacks on US personnel and civilians, US partners and maritime shipping in the Red Sea”, the White House said.

“The Houthis 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 executive order said.

“The Houthis 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.”

During Mr Trump's first term, his administration designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation, despite strong objections from human rights and humanitarian aid groups that said it would hinder the delivery of aid to those in need in Yemen. The Biden administration reversed this designation in 2021 but then listed it as a specially designated global terrorist group in early 2024.

The foreign terrorist organisation label allows for harsher penalties and opens the door for prosecutions of those financing the group's activities.

The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014, removing the internationally recognised government. Although fighting between the Houthis and the government was paused after the establishment of a truce in 2022, the conflict has led to hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect deaths, and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN.

Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023, the Houthis have carried out attacks on maritime trade in the Red Sea in solidarity with Hamas. The US and allied countries, including Israel, have carried out retaliatory attacks in Yemen.

The relisting of the group as a foreign terrorist organisation came hours after the Houthis released the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a maritime vessel seized in the Red Sea more than a year ago.