On Wednesday's PBS News Hour, Timothy Lenderking, the U.S. envoy to Yemen, said the softer terrorist designation given to the Houthis by the Biden administration “helps ensure safe access to critical supplies and food. “It gives us a little bit more flexibility to go out and get licenses.” “Fuel, medicine and humanitarian supplies can still reach the Yemeni people,” he said, citing one of the reasons the designation was lifted in the first place.
“So why not re-register them as a foreign terrorist organization, as the Trump administration has done? Which essentially amounts to a higher designation,” said Nick Shiffrin, foreign affairs and defense correspondent for the NewsHour. he asked.
Renderking replied: “We felt that the FTO or Foreign Terrorist Organization designation was not appropriate in the current situation. Maybe we would, but we hope we don't have to. So what the SDGT is doing is prohibiting certain types of interactions with the Houthi organization, but it's also ensuring that essential supplies, food, fuel, medicine, humanitarian supplies can be delivered safely. It gives us the flexibility to get carve-outs and licenses, so we can continue to reach the people of Yemen. We have no intention of hurting the Yemeni people, who are already suffering from eight years of war.”
Lenderking also defended the decision to delist the Houthis, saying the Biden administration had made Yemen a foreign policy priority, which allowed us to “continue to move forward with humanitarian supplies.” did.
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