Iran Press/Middle East: The decision to blacklist the group, which could be announced as soon as Monday according to two of the sources, comes as the administration of President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take over from the Trump administration on Jan. 20, Reuters reported.
The Trump administration has been piling on sanctions related to Iran in recent weeks, prompting some Biden allies and outside analysts to conclude that Trump aides are seeking to make it harder for the incoming administration to re-engage with Iran and rejoin an international nuclear agreement.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One person familiar with the matter said the Trump administration had worked out certain “allowances” to permit continued delivery of humanitarian supplies to Yemen and insisted that U.S. sanctions rules in most cases leave room for aid organizations to work. The source declined to elaborate.
“This serves no interest at all,” Ryan Crocker, a retired U.S. ambassador who served in the Middle East, said of the designation. “Are there elements among the Houthis who have been involved in terrorist acts? Sure. Just as with other groups in the Middle East.”
“The Houthis are an integral part of Yemeni society. They always have been. This is making a strategic enemy out of a local force that has been part of Yemen for generations. They are not Iranian pawns.”
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