WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday designated Yemen's Houthi movement, known formally as Ansar Allah, as a "foreign terrorist organization", the White House said in a statement.
The move imposes harsher penalties than the Biden administration had applied to the Iran-aligned group in response to its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and against U.S. warships defending the critical maritime chokepoint.
"The Houthis' activities threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade," the White House said in a statement.
U.S. policy, it said, would be to work with regional partners "to eliminate Ansar Allah’s capabilities and operations, deprive it of resources, and thereby end its attacks on U.S. personnel and civilians, U.S. partners, and maritime shipping in the Red Sea."
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Kanishka Singh in Washington, editing by David Ljunggren and Deepa Babington)
