WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Sunday that he will designate Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, as a “foreign terrorist organization,” as the Trump administration drains. The appointment will take effect on January 19, a day before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
The announcement comes as Pompeo and his top aides rush to complete actions they believe will strengthen the president’s legacy as well. In addition to the appointment of Houthi, Pompeo is expected in the coming days to re-appoint 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 the future diplomacy of the Biden administration. On Saturday, Pompeo angered China when he said that restrictions on US diplomatic contacts with Taiwanese officials were null and void. In addition, before leaving his term on January 20, Pompeo intends to establish explicit links between Iran and al-Qaeda and hit several Iranian entities with sanctions, officials said.
Officials were not allowed to discuss the steps publicly because they had not yet been announced and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The administration has for several months weighed in on the formal designation of Houthi rebels as a “foreign terrorist organization.” But this effort has been hampered by internal disagreements over sanctions that could be effectively enforced without exacerbating the serious humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
The objections of the Treasury Department were apparently overcome last week after certain derogations from the sanctions allowing the continuation of the aid activity were arranged.
Late Sunday, Pompeo announced that he was continuing with the appointment of Houthis, also known as Ansarsallah, along with separate terrorist appointments of three high-ranking rebel leaders.
“These appointments will provide additional tools to deal with terrorist activity and terrorism by Ansarallah, a deadly Iranian-backed militia group in the Gulf region,” he said. “The names are meant to answer Ansarallah for his terrorist acts, including cross-border attacks that threaten the civilian population, infrastructure and commercial transport. “
Consideration of the designation has already sparked complaints from aid organizations who have warned that sanctions could be catastrophic for efforts to help hungry Yemeni civilians caught in the conflict between the Houthi and the Yemeni government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.
“The United States acknowledges its concern that these designations will have an impact on the humanitarian situation in Yemen,” Pompeo said in a statement. “We plan to implement measures to reduce their impact on certain humanitarian activities and imports into Yemen.”
These measures will include the issuance of special licenses by the Treasury to allow US assistance to continue circulating in Yemen and for humanitarian organizations to continue working there, he said.
President Donald Trump has taken a hard line on Cuba and overturned many of the sanctions the Obama administration eased or lifted as part of a broader rapprochement with the communist island. Removing Cuba from the list of “state sponsors of terrorism” was a key component of this effort, and the country’s re-enrollment was a long-term goal of Pompeo’s.
Such a designation is legal and it was not immediately clear on Sunday whether all the technical criteria needed to bring Cuba back on the list have been met, according to officials. In removing Cuba from the list, the Obama administration has established that the country no longer supports international terrorism, but expects Pompeo to cite Cuban support for Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro as a major justification for the action, officials said.
Pompeo is also expected to comment at the end of this week, denouncing Iran for its alleged shelter and support for members of the Osama bin Laden al-Qaeda network. In November, US officials said Iran was sheltering al Qaeda’s No. 2 Abu Muhammad al-Masri, who had been killed in August by Israeli agents in Iran along with his daughter, the widow of bin Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden.
The Trump administration has steadily intensified pressure on Iran since the president withdrew from the 2015-2018 nuclear deal and began re-imposing sanctions that were eased under the deal, which sought to limit Iran’s nuclear program.
On Saturday, Pompeo announced that he was lifting all restrictions on contacts between US diplomats and Taiwanese officials. These restrictions have been in place since the United States officially adopted its “one China” policy in 1979 and recognized Beijing after renouncing formal diplomatic ties with Taipei.
Pompeo was at the forefront of the administration’s effort to go after 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 from Beijing to the South China Sea.