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Trump to redesignate Houthis as foreign terrorist organization — media

The US leader is expected to sign this order during the day

WASHINGTON, January 23. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump intends to sign an executive order to tighten sanctions against the Houthis from the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement, according to the Washington Free Beacon portal.

"The Trump administration is readying an executive order that will redesignate the Iran-backed Houthi rebels as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO)," it said, citing a senior US official.

The US leader is expected to sign this order during the day. "The order fully restores tough American sanctions on the Yemen-based terror group that the Biden administration lifted in 2021," the portal noted.

Trump already added the Houthis to the FTO list during his first presidential term in 2017-2021, but Joe Biden revoked this decision after taking office, the portal recalled, adding that nevertheless, in January 2024, Biden put Ansar Allah on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list after a series of Houthi attacks on ships.

"Trump’s rush to redesignate the Houthis signals an early desire to confront Iran’s top proxies and further help Israel crush Tehran’s regional terrorism enterprise," the portal emphasized.

Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. Since mid-November 2023, dozens of civilian ships have been attacked by the Houthi in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

In response to Ansar Allah's actions, the US authorities announced the creation of an international coalition and preparations for an operation codenamed Prosperity Guardian, expected to ensure freedom of navigation and protection of ships in the Red Sea. Since then, the United States and the United Kingdom have been regularly delivering strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.