WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday announced he would designate Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels as a “foreign terrorist organization” as the Trump administration progresses. The appointment will take effect on January 19, one day before Joe Biden, president of the election, takes office.
The announcement comes as Pompeo and his top aides try to settle themselves to confirm their legacy and the president’s cement. In addition to the Houthi designation, Pompeo is also expected to designate Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism” in the coming days, according to various administration officials.
Both actions will sanction or re-introduce the targets, and this could complicate the incoming Biden administration’s diplomacy. Pompeo angered China when it lifted restrictions on US diplomatic contacts with Taiwanese officials. In addition, before leaving office on January 20, Pompeo plans to forge explicit ties between Iran and al-Qaeda and hit more Iranian entities with sanctions, officials said.
The officials were not authorized to discuss the steps in public because it had not yet been announced and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The administration has been considering for months the formal designation of the Houthi rebels as a “foreign terrorist organization”. But this effort has been caught up in internal disagreements over whether sanctions can be applied effectively without exacerbating the serious humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Objections from the Treasury Department were apparently overcome last week after certain exemptions from the sanctions were arranged to provide assistance.
Late Sunday, Pompeo announced that it was continuing to designate the Houthis, also known as Ansarsallah, along with separate terror designations from three senior rebel leaders.
“These directions will provide additional tools to confront terrorist activities and terrorism by Ansarallah, a deadly militia group backed by Iran in the Gulf region,” he said. ‘The directions are intended to hold Ansarallah accountable for his terrorist acts, including cross-border attacks that threaten civilian populations, infrastructure and commercial shipping. ”
Consideration of the designation has already led to complaints from aid organizations warning that the sanctions could be disastrous for efforts to help Yemeni citizens starving in the conflict between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. .
“The United States acknowledges the concern that these designations will affect the humanitarian situation in Yemen,” Pompeo said in a statement. “We plan to put in place measures to reduce its impact on certain humanitarian activities and imports into Yemen.”
These measures will include the issuance of special licenses by the Treasury to allow US aid to flow to Yemen and that humanitarian organizations can continue there, he said.
President Donald Trump has taken a hard line in Cuba and reversed many of the sanctions that the Obama administration has eased or lifted as part of a broader approach to the communist island. The removal of Cuba from the list of “sponsors of terrorism” was an important part of the effort and the renaming of the country was a long-term goal of Pompeos.
Such a designation is legal and according to officials, it is not immediately clear on Sunday whether all the technical criteria to restore Cuba on the list have been met. In removing Cuba from the list, the Obama administration has determined that the country no longer supports international terrorism, but Pompeo is expected to cite Cuban support for Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro as a key justification for the move.
Pompeo is also expected to make remarks later this week in which he denounces Iran for the alleged protection and support of members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. In November, U.S. officials said Iran’s al-Qaida’s no. 2, Abu Muhammad al-Masri, who was killed in August by Israeli agents in Iran with his daughter, the widow of Hamza bin Laden, bin Laden’s son.
The Trump administration has gradually increased pressure on Iran since the president withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and resumed drafting sanctions eased under the deal, aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program.
Pompeo announced on Saturday that it was revoking all restrictions on contact between U.S. diplomats and Taiwanese officials. These restrictions have been in place since the U.S. formally adopted its “one China” policy in 1979 and recognized Beijing after abandoning formal diplomatic ties with Taipei.
Pompeo was at the forefront of the government’s efforts to pursue China for its actions in Taiwan, suppressing differences of opinion and human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and the western Xinjiang region, as well as Beijing’s disputed maritime claims in the South China Sea. .