The United States plans to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organisation almost three years after Joe Biden took the Iran-backed militia off the list of proscribed groups.
Mr Biden called the Houthis a “terrorist” group after US and British warplanes, ships and submarines launched dozens of strikes across Yemen on Friday in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping.
From the middle of February, the US will consider the Houthis a “specially designated global terrorist” force, US officials said.
The classification is a step down from the Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) designation the Iran-backed group was given by the Trump administration in its final days.
The FTO designation barred Americans and US-based aid groups from providing “material support” to the Houthis, raising fears that the move would worsen Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.