President Joe Biden acknowledged that the Iranian-backed Houthis are “terrorists,” after rescinding former President Donald Trump's designation of the group as a terrorist group early in his administration.
On Friday, a reporter asked Biden: “Are you willing to call the Houthis a terrorist group?”
The president replied, “I think so.”
In February 2021, Biden rescinded President Trump's terrorist designation that had cut off the group from the international banking system.
The Biden administration argued the move would harm Yemeni civilians and impede negotiations with the group, which is embroiled in a war with U.S.-backed Saudi Arabia.
This handout screen capture from video shows Yemeni Houthi fighters hijacking the Galaxy Leader cargo on the Red Sea coast off Hodeidah in Yemen's Red Sea on November 20, 2023. (Houthi movement, via Getty Images)
Former Trump Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel said in an interview with Breitbart News last month that the Houthis should be called terrorists in order to squeeze their funding and prevent further attacks in Saudi Arabia, where U.S. troops are stationed. He said it was important to specify.
“So if you shut them down financially; [to] Target them as terrorists. And once they meet the threshold, we can remove their leaders, the people who are actually terrorists,” he said.
“Lifting the designation, as the Biden administration has done, would give them access to the global banking system, allow them to travel freely, and allow them to do business with allies,” he said. Ta. “So they can get money, they can get funding. You are allowing Iran to pay them, but we have no recourse. They are designated terrorists. Because it is not an organization, it is not an operational or intelligence priority, and it is not a priority for intelligence gathering purposes.”
The Houthis have fired missiles and sent attack drones at U.S. military and international commercial warships in the Red Sea in what they say is retaliation for Israeli attacks on Hamas. They have attacked ships on at least 26 separate occasions since November, according to the Pentagon.
Biden last week ordered attacks on Houthi targets and vowed to take further action if necessary, with the aim of reducing the group's ability to continue its attacks. According to the Pentagon, more than 150 rounds of ammunition were fired at 16 locations. The group said five Houthis were killed in the airstrike.
Asked on Friday whether he would continue bombing if the Houthi attacks do not stop, Biden said: “If the Houthis continue this heinous act, we will definitely respond with our allies.”
Joe Biden's decision to remove the Houthis from the terrorist list should come under further scrutiny following a series of attacks by the group.
It needs to be redesignated as a terrorist organization.https://t.co/MXkMNco6Ie
— Sen. Eric Schmitt (@SenEricSchmitt) December 19, 2023
One reporter then followed up on Biden's recognition of the Houthis as “terrorists,” asking, “How soon are you going to designate them as terrorists?”
Biden criticized it as “irrelevant.”
“It doesn't matter whether they are designated or not. We have put together a group of countries that are going to say, if they continue to act and behave the way they are, we will respond.”
The Houthis fired an anti-ship cruise missile at a U.S. Navy destroyer on Sunday, according to U.S. Central Command.
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