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U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday calling on the U.S. secretary of state to designate the Houthis as a terror group within the next 30 days.
Trump designated the Iranian-backed group—which is also known as Ansar Allah—as a foreign terrorist organization in January 2021, during his first term.
“Within one month of taking office, the Biden administration reversed the Houthis’ designation,” per a White House fact sheet. “As a result of the Biden administration’s weak policy, the Houthis have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times, launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure in partner nations and attacked commercial vessels transiting” between Yemen and the Horn of Africa “more than 100 times.”
“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 U.S. personnel and civilians, U.S. partners and maritime shipping in the Red Sea,” the White House stated.
In the executive order, Trump stated that the Houthis, which are supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, “have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times since 2023, endangering American men and women in uniform.”
“Since seizing most Yemeni population centers by force from the legitimate Yemeni government in 2014-15, 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,” Trump stated.
“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,” he added.
Once the U.S. secretary of state, in consultation with the U.S. attorney general and the U.S. treasury secretary, determines that an entity ought to be designated as a terror group, “Congress is notified of the secretary’s intent to designate the organization and given seven days to review the designation, as the Immigration and Nationality Act requires,” per the State Department.
If Congress doesn’t block the designation during a seven-day waiting period, “notice of the designation is published in the Federal Register, at which point the designation takes effect,” per the department. The designated entity then has 30 days to seek judicial review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, it adds.
The new executive order calls for the U.S. Agency for International Development administrator and the secretary of state, after the Houthis are redesignated, to “jointly review United Nations partners, nongovernmental organizations and contractors operating in Yemen.”
“Following this review, the president will direct USAID to end its relationship with entities that have made payments to the Houthis, or which have opposed international efforts to counter the Houthis while turning a blind eye towards the Houthis’ terrorism and abuses,” the White House said.
“Thank you, President Trump,” wrote Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “They should never have been removed in the first place. Designating the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization sends a powerful message that America views this group as a clear threat to our allies and partners and to regional stability in the Middle East.”
“Promises made, promises kept,” stated the Republican Jewish Coalition. “Thank you President Trump for correcting the disastrously wrong-headed decision by the Biden administration to de-list the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization.”
