McCaul Calls for Reimposing Sanctions on Houthis
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, urged the Biden administration to reinstate the Houthis’ designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, citing the Yemen-based group’s recent attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
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With the attacks posing a "growing threat" to U.S. interests in the region, the “administration’s decision to rescind the Houthis’ Foreign Terrorist Organization designation in 2021 was clearly a mistake and they must re-list the Houthis now,” McCaul said in a Jan. 6 statement. The State Department has said it revoked the Houthis’ terrorism designation almost three years ago because sanctions could impede Yemen’s access to humanitarian aid (see 2102100016).
McCaul’s comments came less than a month after five Republican senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to redesignate the Houthis, also known as Ansarallah, as an FTO and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (see 2312150038). The U.S. and 12 other countries issued a joint statement on Jan. 3 warning the Houthis will face “consequences” if they continue to illegally attack cargo vessels (see 2401030065).