The U.S. State Department is reportedly planning on designating the Yemen-based
Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The renewed focus o


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U.S. Reportedly Planning To Designate Iran-Backed Houthis As Terrorist Group

(New York, N.Y.) – The U.S. State Department is reportedly planning on
designating
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the Yemen-based Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The renewed
focus on designating the Iran-backed group follows a terrorism and intelligence
review
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deliberated by the State Department in September. If imposed, the FTO
designation would sanction the Houthis, prohibit any U.S. contact with the
group, and isolate them financially.

 

In April 2015, then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew designated
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Houthi military, spiritual, and political leader,Abdul Malik al-Houthi
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Specially Designated National (SDN). The U.S.reportedly
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paused plans to impose an FTO designation on the Houthis in 2018 but halted
due to international aid concerns.

 

Yemeni officials have long accused Iran’s Shiite Islamist regime of providing
political, financial, and logistical support to the Houthi rebels and other
secessionist movements in Yemen. Despite a 2009 U.N. report confirming such
claims, Iran and the Houthis have historically denied engaging in past
cooperation. Nevertheless, other reports subsequently confirmed Iranian
support, including a Reuters article in December of 2014confirming
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financial backing by Tehran. One source stated, “We think there is cash, some
of which is channeled via Hezbollah and sacks of cash arriving at the airport.”
In 2015, the regime finally acknowledged providing “direct support” to the
Houthis.

 

The Houthis have also received training and military equipment from Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is itself a designated FTO. The
Houthis have detained numerous foreign nationals, including at least five
Americans, and have waged a series of bloody insurgencies against the Yemeni
government since 2004, overthrowing them and seizing power in Sanaa in 2015.

 

To read CEP’s Houthis resource, please click here
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To read CEP’s resource, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, please click here
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