WASHINGTON – The Biden government has suspended some of the terrorist sanctions that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has imposed on Yemen’s Houthi rebels in its heyday.
The Treasury Department said on Monday it would release certain transactions involving the Houthis from sanctions following Pompeo’s designation of the group as a “foreign terrorist organization” on January 10.
The release will expire on February 26, according to a statement from the Treasury’s Foreign Asset Management Office announcing a general license for transactions involving entities owned by the Iran-backed Houthi.
The sanctions imposed by Pompeo went into effect on January 19, just a day before President Joe Biden was inaugurated, and have been widely criticized by the United Nations and relief organizations. Critics have said the sanctions, which are already one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, will be exacerbated by barring aid to civilians in the war-torn nation.
The Treasury’s license does not prevent the nomination of Pompeo and does not apply to specific members of the Houthi group who have been otherwise approved.
The Trump administration’s designation has caused confusion among UN aid agencies and warnings, as well as senior Republicans, that it could have a devastating impact on a conflict-ridden nation facing the risk of famine.
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Several aid groups called on Biden to reverse the name immediately, with Oxfam America humanitarian policy leader Scott Paul saying “Life hangs in the balance.”
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels rule the capital and northern Yemen where the majority of the population lives, forcing international aid groups to cooperate with them. Agencies rely on the Houthis to provide assistance, and they pay salaries to Houthis to do so.
The suspension of the Biden administration was announced on the same day that tens of thousands of Yemenis in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, marched and heeded a call by the Houthis to condemn the US for branding a terrorist group and Saudi-led military coalition supports fighting. It.
Six years of war between a US-backed Arab coalition and the Houthi rebels have been catastrophic for Yemen, killing more than 112,000 people and reducing the infrastructure of roads and hospitals to water and electricity networks to ruins.
It began with the Houthi takeover of the north in 2014, leading to a devastating air campaign by the Saudi-led coalition, aimed at restoring the internationally recognized government.
Most of Yemen’s 30 million people rely on international aid to survive. The UN says 13.5 million Yemenis are already facing acute food insecurity, a figure that could rise to 16 million by June.
The US designation movement was part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to isolate and paralyze Iran. It also showed support for a close US ally, Saudi Arabia, which is leading the anti-Houthi coalition in the war.
Saudi Arabia has advocated citing terrorism and hopes it will push the rebels to reach a peace agreement. Previous rounds of peace talks and ceasefire agreements have faltered.
Reuters contributed to this report.