U.S. Redesignates Houthis As Terrorists, Urges Iran To Send 'Deliberate Message' To Proxies To Stand Down

The Biden administration on Wednesday declared Houthi rebels to be a "specially designated global terrorist group," amid the militia's continuing attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea. TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The designation, which was announced by the State Department, is expected to take effect on Feb.16, giving the Biden administration a month to ensure humanitarian groups and businesses delivering life-sustaining goods to Yemen are not impacted by the move, the Spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily press briefing.

According to him, the designation generally gives the U.S. ''more tools' to go after the Houthis access to funds it wants to deny them.

In response to TURAN's questions, the spokesperson said the U.S. will continue to make it clear to the Houthis that their attacks against commercial vessels must stop, and that the U.S. will remain prepared to take additional actions if necessary.

Speaking on Iran's Foreign Minister's latest statements in which he'd claimed that Houthi attacks in the Red Sea were connected to the war in Gaza, Miller said this linkage is "a bit absurd" as commercial ships attacked by the Houthis are not flagged as Israeli or US ships.

"Which is the point that we have tried to make clear in marshaling this international coalition to impose consequences on the Houthis," Miller said.

He added:  "So the message to Iran is the same as it was to the Houthis, which is attacking unarmed civilian vessels that are just sailing through international waters, has nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza, and we will do what we need to do to deter those attacks."

"Now, we don't think it's in Iran's interest to see any escalation, and we think Iran should send a very clear, deliberate message to all of its proxies to stand down, to stop fomenting instability across the region," the spokesperson concluded.