Iran says Trump’s ‘terrorist’ designation of Yemen’s Houthis is ‘baseless’
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
People participating in a parade after taking part in Houthi military training as part of a mobilisation campaign in Sanaa, Yemen.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
DUBAI – Iran on Jan 23 condemned as “baseless” a move by US President Donald Trump to redesignate Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the move, which will impose harsher economic penalties than the Biden administration had applied to the Houthis, was “an excuse to apply anti-human sanctions against the Yemeni people”.
Mr Baghaei was quoted by state media as saying: “Such arbitrary and baseless unilateral actions will further weaken the rule of law in international relations and threaten regional peace and stability.”
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships plying the Red Sea since November 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. They have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers.
The attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa for over a year.
In 2021, Then President Joe Biden dropped Mr Trump’s terrorist designations to address humanitarian concerns inside Yemen. Mr Biden in 2024 designated the group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organisation but held off on applying the harsher FTO designation. REUTERS
