UANI Commends Biden Administration On Houthis SDGT Redesignation, Urges Redesignation As FTO

(New York, NY) – Starting in mid-February, the Biden administration will re-designate the Iranian terror partner, the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) organization under Executive Order 13224. The designation follows weeks of Houthi missile and drone attacks off of Yemen’s coast which have threatened the safety of the international shipping community and disrupted international commerce for months.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) issued the following statement on the Biden administration’s redesignation of the Houthis as an SDGT:

“We applaud the re-designation of the Houthis as a SDGT. In January 2021, UANI called on the Biden administration to maintain both the SDGT designation and the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation. While we are encouraged that the SDGT designation will be re-instated next month, it appears that the more severe FTO designation is not currently in the cards.

“UANI strongly urges the Biden administration to take the critical next step of redesignating the Houthis as an FTO, a label that the Trump administration imposed but the Biden administration later reversed. The FTO designation would facilitate the efficient criminal prosecution of anyone who provides the Houthis with material support. It would also impose important immigration restrictions on members of the organization solely due to their membership.

“It is past time for the Houthis and their Iranian benefactors to be held accountable for the chaos and destruction they have brought to the region and for their destabilization of peaceful, legitimate global commerce. The Biden administration must continue kinetic action not only against the Houthis, but also against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) assets inside Iran. That will be the only way to meaningfully deter the Iranian regime from these attacks against maritime commerce.”

To read UANI’s resource on the Houthis, please click here.

To read UANI’s report, The Houthis’ Evolution, Governance, and Power, please click here.

To read UANI’s resource, Iran’s Threat to Maritime Security, please click here.