The Treasury Department under Biden’s administration has imposed sanctions on an alleged Iran-related network that funds the Houthi rebel movement, despite ongoing discussions about whether to reclassify the Houthis as a terrorist organization.
US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Nabil Ali Ahmed Al-Hadha, the president of Currency Exchangers Association in Sana’a, and three exchange houses under a counterterrorism executive order.
The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, have intermittently clashed with Yemen’s internationally recognized government since 2004 and rose to power in 2014, triggering a civil war with Saudi intervention. Recently, they have shifted focus toward Gaza Strip clashes involving Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.
As the Houthis claimed responsibility for attacks on Red Sea shipping and a helicopter-assaulted cargo ship, the US targeted their funding by imposing the recent sanctions.
The Biden administration is deliberating on re-designating the Houthis as terrorists after President Trump reversed the decision upon taking office. The Treasury Department linked the latest sanctioned individuals and entities to Sa’id Al-Jamal, an Iranian financier suspected to have ties with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).
The Treasury Department insists that these entities facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars to the Houthis upon Mr. Al-Jamal’s request.
Despite ongoing discussions, the current timeline for the Biden administration to reach a decision on reclassifying the Houthis remains unclear.
The Biden administration’s delay in reclassifying the Houthis has drawn criticism from Jonathan Schanzer, a senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He accused the State Department of designating Houthi terror facilitators without labeling the group as terrorists.
NTD News approached the White House, Treasury Department, and State Department for comments on the timeline for deciding the Houthi movement’s status as a terrorist organization and the impact of the recent sanctions. However, no response was received by press time.
