WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Sunday that he will designate Yemen-backed “Houthi rebels” as a “foreign terrorist organization” as time runs out for the Trump administration. . The appointment will take effect Jan. 19, a day before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
The announcement comes as Pompey and his top aides rush to complete actions they believe will consolidate his legacy and that of the president. In addition to the Houthi appointment, Pompeo in the coming days is also likely to designate Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” according to several administration officials.
Both moves will impose or re-impose sanctions on targets and may complicate Biden administration diplomacy. On Saturday, Pompeo angered China when it declared null and void restrictions on U.S. diplomatic contacts with Taiwanese officials. In addition, Pompeo plans before leaving office on Jan. 20 to establish explicit ties between Iran and al-Qaeda and hit more Iranian entities with sanctions, officials said.
Officials were not allowed to discuss the steps publicly because they have not yet been announced and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The administration had for months weighed in on the formal designation of Houthi rebels as a “foreign terrorist organization.” But this effort had bogged down in internal disagreements over whether sanctions could be effectively applied without worsening the serious humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Apparently, the Treasury Department’s objections were overcome last week after some exemptions were agreed to sanctions that allowed relief work to continue.
At the end of Sunday, Pompey announced that he was designating the Houthis, also known as Ansarsallah, along with separate terrorist appointments of three senior rebel leaders.
“These designations will provide additional tools to tackle the terrorist activity and terrorism of Ansarallah, a deadly militia group backed by Iran in the Gulf region,” he said. “The designations are intended to hold Ansarallah accountable for its terrorist acts, including cross-border attacks that threaten civilian populations, infrastructure and commercial shipping.”
Consideration of the designation had already sparked complaints from relief organizations that have warned that sanctions could prove catastrophic for efforts to help Yemeni civilians trapped in the conflict between the Houthis and the Yemeni government, which is backed by the Yemeni government. ‘Saudi Arabia.
“The United States recognizes the concern that these designations will have an impact on the humanitarian situation in Yemen,” Pompeo said in a statement. “We plan to put in place measures to reduce its impact on certain humanitarian activities and imports into Yemen.”
These measures will include the issuance of special licenses by the Treasury to allow U.S. assistance to continue flowing into Yemen and for humanitarian organizations to continue working there, he said.
President Donald Trump has taken a hard line against Cuba and has lifted many of the sanctions the Obama administration had eased or lifted as part of a broader approach to the communist island. Removing Cuba from the list of “state sponsors of terrorism” had been a key component of that effort, and the country’s re-enrollment has been a long-term goal for Pompeo.
This designation is legal and it was not immediately known on Sunday whether all the technical criteria needed to restore Cuba to the list had been met, according to officials. By removing Cuba from the list, the Obama administration determined that the country no longer supported international terrorism, but Pompeo is expected to cite Cuban support for Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro as the main justification for the move, officials said. .
Pompeo is also expected to make statements later this week denouncing Iran for its alleged accommodation and support of members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. In November, U.S. officials said Iran had been hosting al Qaeda No. 2 Abu Muhammad al-Masri, who had been killed in August by Israeli agents in Iran along with the his daughter, the widow of bin Laden’s son, Hamza bin Laden.
The Trump administration has steadily increased pressure on Iran since the president withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and began re-imposing sanctions that had been reduced under the deal, which aimed to curb the Iranian atomic program.
On Saturday, Pompeo announced that he was lifting all restrictions on contacts between U.S. diplomats and Taiwanese officials. These restrictions had been in place since the U.S. formally adopted its policy of a “single China” in 1979 and recognized Beijing after leaving formal diplomatic ties with Taipei.
Pompeo has been at the forefront of the administration’s persecution of China for its actions in Taiwan, crackdowns on dissent and human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and the western region of Xinjiang, as well as disputed maritime claims by Beijing in the South China Sea.