Trump Will Again Designate Houthis as Terrorists, Reversing Biden
(Bloomberg) -- US President Donald Trump signed an order on Wednesday that would once again categorize the Houthi militant group in Yemen as a terrorist organization — nearly four years after the Biden administration revoked the designation.
Most Read from Bloomberg
How Sanctuary Cities Are Preparing for Another Showdown With Trump
Texas HOA Charged With Discrimination for Banning Section 8 Renters
Hoboken PATH Station Will Close for Almost a Month on Jan. 30
Billionaire Developer Caruso Slams LA Leadership Over Wildfires
Since then, the Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, have engaged in a lengthy campaign of missile and drone attacks on cargo ships and other vessels sailing in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They’ve also fired upon Israel several times. The attacks started after the Hamas assault on Israel in October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.
The assaults have disrupted maritime commerce in the Middle East and continued despite repeated strikes on Houthi targets by the US, UK and Israel.
“As a result of the Biden administration’s weak policy, the Houthis have fired at US Navy warships dozens of times, launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure in partner nations, and attacked commercial vessels,” the White House said in a fact sheet on Wednesday evening.
The Houthis said this week that they would stop attacking US and UK vessels in the Red Sea in response to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement. They also announced that they had released the crew of a commercial vessel that they hijacked more than a year ago.
Still, Western shipping firms are largely saying they’ll continue to avoid the area for now.
Trump’s executive order “directs the secretary of State to recommend the re-designation of the Houthis within 30 days.” It also calls for the State Department and the US Agency for International Development to look into the work of organizations and contractors operating in Yemen and “end its relationship with entities that have made payments to the Houthis, or which have opposed international efforts to counter the Houthis.”
The terrorist designation was first applied at the end of Trump’s first term. President Joe Biden revoked it in 2021, citing the risk of famine in Yemen, a country that has been engulfed by civil war since 2014.
In January 2024, the Biden administration relisted the Houthis as a “specially designated global terrorist” group as opposed to the stricter “foreign terrorist organization” classification in order to leave some room for the group to engage in the United Nations-sponsored peace talks in Yemen.
That move was accompanied by the start of airstrikes against the group in retaliation for its decision to start maritime assaults.
The Houthis, who were from Yemen’s north, rebelled against the UN-recognized government and seized the capital, Sana’a, in 2014. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition then intervened on the side of the government.
--With assistance from Sam Dagher.
(Updates with context on Biden administration’s moves regarding the Houthis in third-last paragraph.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.