On January 22, President Donald Trump signed an executive order re-designating Yemen’s Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthi movement, as a “foreign terrorist organization.” He vowed to dismantle the group’s capabilities, a decision that seemed at odds with his self-proclaimed anti-interventionist stance and “America first” rhetoric. Critics argue that the move effectively positions the U.S. on a path toward direct war with Yemen, a step many interpret as aligning with Israel’s interests more than those of the United States.
The decision came in the final days of Trump’s first term, as his administration designated Ansar Allah, which leads Yemen’s government in Sana’a, as a “foreign terrorist organization” (FTO). Humanitarian organizations quickly sounded the alarm, warning that the designation would worsen Yemen’s already devastating humanitarian crisis. The Biden administration, however, moved to reverse the policy shortly after taking office. In his first major foreign policy speech in 2021, President Joe Biden pledged to end the catastrophic war in Yemen—a conflict that has resulted in the deaths of approximately 400,000 people.
Despite President Biden’s pledge to end the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led war in Yemen, his administration made little tangible progress toward that goal. Throughout 2021, the conflict not only persisted but escalated, casting doubt on the sincerity of the administration’s commitment to peace. In the end, it was the United Nations, not the U.S., that successfully brokered a ceasefire agreement between Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia. Ultimately, it was the United Nations—not Washington—that brokered a ceasefire between Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia, a truce that remains in place today.
By October 2023, Ansar Allah had begun actively supporting Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza, launching its first wave of missiles toward Israel. The following month, Yemen’s naval forces seized the Galaxy Leader, a vessel with ties to Israel, and declared a blockade, vowing to maintain it until the war on Gaza ended.
Rather than pursuing an end to the conflict, the U.S. responded by assembling a multinational coalition to launch “Operation Prosperity Guardian,” a mission aimed at safeguarding Israel’s maritime interests. The campaign proved disastrous, with global shipping losses soaring to $200 billion over the course of 2024. Despite repeated U.S., U.K., and Israeli airstrikes on Yemen, the blockade remained intact, only ending with the Gaza ceasefire.
By January 2024, the Biden administration moved to designate Ansar Allah as a “specially designated global terrorist” organization. The decision, combined with the failure of the military intervention, drew sharp criticism from Trump’s incoming Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. In an op-ed titled President Biden’s Misguided Policy Toward the Houthis Hurts Americans, Rubio lambasted the administration’s approach, arguing that its strategy had backfired, leaving U.S. interests weakened in the region.
Feature photo | A Houthi supporter raises a banner in front of a billboard of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli troops in Gaza last year, during an anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Jan. 17, 2025. Osamah Abdulrahman | AP
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47