The United States said Wednesday, January 17, that it would put Yemen's Huthis back on a list of "terrorist" entities. Still, the announcement failed to deter the Iran-backed rebels, who responded by claiming they attacked an American vessel.
The Huthis have already faced multiple rounds of air strikes in response to their targeting of merchant ships in the Red Sea, and vowed after the designation announcement that they would continue attacks they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling the militant group Hamas.
"The Department of State today is announcing the designation of Ansarallah, commonly referred to as the Huthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, effective 30 days from today," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. "The Huthis must be held accountable for their actions, but it should not be at the expense of Yemeni civilians," he said. "During the 30-day implementation delay, the US government will conduct robust outreach to stakeholders, aid providers, and partners who are crucial to facilitating humanitarian assistance and the commercial import of critical commodities in Yemen," Blinken said.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the designation "is an important tool to impede terrorist funding to the Huthis, further restrict their access to financial markets, and hold them accountable for their actions." "If the Huthis cease their attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the United States will immediately reevaluate this designation," Sullivan said in a statement.
The Huthis, however, said they would not call off their strikes. "We will not give up targeting Israeli ships or ships heading towards ports in occupied Palestine... in support of the Palestinian people," the group's spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam told Al Jazeera TV, adding that they would respond to new strikes on Yemen by the United States or Britain.
While the Huthis say they have been attacking Israeli-linked vessels, Washington says dozens of countries have connections to the ships that have been targeted. Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree later said in televised remarks that the rebels targeted a US vessel called the Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden with "a number of appropriate missiles."
A British maritime security agency said a drone hit a vessel off the Yemeni coast, but it was not immediately clear if it was referring to the same incident.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Wednesday said he had spoken with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and urged Tehran to stop backing Huthi rebels in Yemen. "Iran must cease supplying the Houthis with weapons and intelligence and use its influence to stop Houthi attacks in the Red Sea," Cameron, attending the World Economic Forum, wrote on X. "Iran must also stop using the regional situation as cover to act recklessly and violate others' sovereignty. I made this clear to FM @Amirabdolahian."
The UK last week joined the United States in attacking Huthi bases in Yemen that they say were used to launch attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Sunak and Cameron have both said the strikes were justified, proportionate, and legal, despite criticism from old foes Iran and Russia, but also fellow NATO member Turkey.
The Huthis say their attacks are in solidarity with Gaza, where Iran-backed Hamas militants have been at war with Israel for more than three months.