After the Israel-Hamas War concluded, focus pivoted to the Houthi group, particularly after US President Donald Trump redesignated them on America’s terrorism list. The Houthis rejected this as “American misinformation and a futile attempt to tarnish our reputation and the reputation of the Yemeni people.” They showed little concern, asserting that the classification carries no real value.
Trump designated the Houthis under the “Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO)” category — a more rigorous classification than Biden’s earlier designation approximately a year ago as “Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organizations.” The previous designation emphasized economic sanctions while allowing humanitarian assistance to the group as a “de facto authority.”
The FTO designation is more comprehensive, enabling asset freezing, the prohibition of transactions, and sanctions against violators. It strips away political legitimacy, undermines their position in Yemen’s future, and paves the way for prosecution of leaders in international courts.
The group has shifted from Treasury Department scrutiny to facing both economic and diplomatic sanctions from the State Department against its leadership, supporters, and international partners.
This designation aligns perfectly with Trump’s opposition to providing humanitarian aid to regions controlled by opposing groups, such as Yemen. It sends a clear message of determination to the Houthis: stop attacking American interests, targets, and vessels.
Houthi faces difficult choices
The group now faces difficult choices. Continuing to target American interests could escalate into direct military conflict with the United States. This might trigger more severe American strikes and force Trump’s administration to change their stated policy — so far — of avoiding direct conflict with the Houthis, as President Trump himself has stated several times.
Undoubtedly, the Trump administration’s move matches the Houthi threat. Since November 2023, they have carried out over 100 attacks on Red Sea vessels. They have also sunk two ships, seized another, and killed sailors — all while claiming these attacks show solidarity with Palestinians.
These attacks have seriously disrupted global maritime trade and damaged regional economies, especially Egypt’s, which has borne the economic burden of declining ship traffic through the Red Sea. Israel has also suffered financial losses from these attacks.
Some see the American action against the Houthis as an implicit signal to the Iranian regime. It could foreshadow giving Israel permission to eliminate what it sees as threats from the Houthi group. Israel may soon move to target the Houthis more decisively to permanently eliminate missile and drone threats that have reached Israeli territory multiple times.
Most likely, neither Israel nor the United States will launch attacks against the Houthis in the near future, given the limited impact of strikes conducted by both sides against Houthi bases in recent months. The main reason is the lack of good intelligence about critical areas and locations, as well as leadership movements. Therefore, both sides may focus on gathering intelligence for a period before launching new attacks. They will aim to ensure effectiveness and avoid wasting military resources in such operations.
The focus is expected to be on gathering intelligence about prominent Houthi leaders’ locations and targeting them, measured against the significant effect of targeting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the group’s top and mid-level leadership. This approach led to a rapid breakdown in Hezbollah’s operational capabilities and its inability to carry out effective offensive operations despite its missile arsenal.
Another crucial point is that the Houthis have become Iran’s most effective proxy, following the decline of Lebanese Hezbollah’s operational abilities and its forced retreat and acceptance of Lebanese government arrangements.
American strategy may support any regional or international military effort aimed at restricting Houthi movement and permanently eliminating their threats. However, the US is unlikely to lead this campaign, much less be its driving force.
Trump believes his role is limited to showing firmness and discipline and creating favorable conditions for success in this area. This approach will be reinforced after reaching the hostage-ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Trump consistently claims that his threats were the main and direct reason for achieving this agreement after long months of marathon negotiations that lacked strong American pressure — a view shared by many experts and observers.
The writer is a UAE political analyst and former Federal National Council candidate.