Overturning Biden-era decision, Marco Rubio blacklists Houthis as terrorists

Secretary of State restores terrorist designation for the pro-Iranian Houthi movement in Yemen, reversing the whitelisting by the Biden administration.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States State Department on Tuesday blacklisted the Yemenite Houthi movement, restoring its designation as a terrorist organization.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the blacklisting, more than a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing the State Department to put the pro-Iranian group back on the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.

“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,” Rubio said, referencing Houthi missile attacks on Israel and the targeting of ships passing through the Red Sea.

“The United States will not tolerate any country engaging with terrorist organizations like the Houthis in the name of practicing legitimate international business.”

At the end of President Trump’s first term in office, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added the Houthi group Ansar Allah to the FTO, after it allied itself with the Hamas terror organization.

Pompeo’s successor, Antony Blinken, reversed the move in February 2021, dropping Ansar Allah from the State Department’s terror blacklist.

The Biden administration did place the Houthis on a separate terror blacklist, the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list, in January 2024, following a spate of attacks by Houthi terrorists on ships passing through the Red Sea.

However, the SDGT listing provided limited tools for sanctioning the Houthis in comparison to the FTO listing.

On January 22nd, Trump called for Ansar Allah to be put back on the FTO blacklist.

“Under President Trump, 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 US personnel and civilians, US partners, and maritime shipping in the Red Sea,” the White House said in a press release.