by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The U.S. on Tuesday re-designated Yemen’s Houthi militant group, Ansarallah, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), reversing Biden’s 2021 decision after over a year of attacks on U.S. Navy and commercial vessels.
President Trump initiated the process to designate the Houthis as an FTO shortly after taking office, but it became official only after U.S. State Department approval.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated he was fulfilling a Trump campaign promise following hundreds of Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
“Today’s action taken by the State Department demonstrates the Trump Administration’s commitment to protecting our national security interests, the safety of the American people, and the security of the United States,” Rubio said. “Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective way to curtail support for terrorist activities.”
In January 2021, before leaving office, the Trump administration designated the Houthis an FTO, citing attacks on Saudi Arabia and Aden. The Biden administration reversed it a month later, citing humanitarian aid concerns amid Yemen’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Former officials said the Biden administration considered re-designating the Houthis as an FTO last year but left the decision for the incoming Trump administration.
The designation is the administration’s latest move to counter Iran amid ongoing Middle East conflicts. While the Houthis operate as a regional proxy for Tehran, targeting both commercial and military vessels, U.S. officials view them as independent actors who may not always follow Iran’s directives.
In recent weeks, the Houthis have issued threats to launch attacks on Tel Aviv if hostilities in Gaza reignite, further escalating regional tensions and underscoring their involvement in the broader conflict.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday issued his strongest public denunciation yet of extremist settler violence in Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank), promising “very forceful action” amid a sharp rise in attacks that has drawn concern from Israeli security officials, international partners, and Washington.
In the immediate aftermath of Democrats losing the budget showdown that plunged Washington into a weeks-long government shutdown, House Republicans say the Left is now scrambling for a distraction — reviving the long-dormant fight over the Jeffrey Epstein files in what GOP leaders call a transparently political maneuver to wound President Donald Trump.
Iranian authorities have begun large-scale cloud-seeding operations in a desperate bid to generate rainfall as the country confronts its most severe drought in decades, state media reported over the weekend.
President Donald Trump is expected to finalize a landmark agreement with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that would allow Riyadh to acquire advanced U.S. F-35 stealth fighter jets—part of a sweeping package of economic, defense, and normalization initiatives set to be unveiled at the White House this week.
In a historic and unprecedented step, Israel has begun pumping desalinated Mediterranean water into the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret), marking the first time anywhere in the world that processed seawater is being used to replenish a natural freshwater lake. The initiative comes as the iconic biblical lake continues to suffer from years of drought, falling rainfall, and declining spring flow.
United Nations nuclear inspectors are sounding alarms after Iran continued blocking access to key nuclear facilities bombed in June by the United States and Israel, leaving the world uncertain about the fate of Tehran’s near-weapons-grade uranium stockpile. According to confidential reports obtained by multiple outlets, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not verified Iran’s highly enriched uranium inventory since mid-June, when coordinated strikes destroyed major parts of Iran’s enrichment infrastructure.
Hungary’s rightwing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has launched a weeks-long “anti-war roadshow,” turning his long-standing criticism of European support for Ukraine into a central campaign theme ahead of next April’s national elections.