The United States maintains Houthi heads on terrorist list

The United States declared that it would not lift sanctions imposed on the leaders of the Iran-supported Houthi militias in Yemen.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price announced that Houthi leaders Abdul Malik al-Houthi, Abd al-Khaliq Badr al-Din al-Houthi and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim remain designated under the UN sanctions regime and are sanctioned under a US authority, Executive Order 13611, related to acts that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Yemen.

He also affirmed during a press briefing: We do not intend to let up the pressure on those who are responsible for these attacks [on Saudi Arabia], who are responsible for seeking to do harm to American citizens, who are responsible for seeking to do harm to our Saudi partners.

He added that the Houthi leadership will find themselves sorely mistaken if they think that this administration is going to let off the pressure – is going to let them off the hook for the reprehensible conduct that they continue to undertake. They will find themselves under significant pressure, and I suspect we may have more to say about that in the coming days.

Moreover, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made, on Wednesday, a second telephone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah in less than a week.

Blinken denounced the Houthi assault against Saudi Arabia’s Abha international airport on Wednesday and he also spoke about the efforts to reinforce Saudi defenses against such attacks.
The American official said in a tweet: Saudi Arabia is an important security partner. We won’t stand by while the Houthis attack Saudi Arabia. We remain committed to bolstering Saudi Arabia’s defenses and finding a political settlement to the conflict in Yemen.

Blinken also said in a State Department statement that outlined diplomatic outreach to find a negotiated political settlement to the war in Yemen, including through the US Special Envoy to Yemen recent engagements with regional partners, humanitarian aid organizations, the UN Special Envoy, and other stakeholders.

Otherwise, Price indicated that the Houthi assault on Abha happen in the same time with the first visit to the region by newly designated US envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking. While, the envoy had visited Saudi Arabia and gathered with its foreign minister.

Price also affirmed that the US would keep pursuing diplomatic efforts to resolve the Yemeni crisis and communicate with the stakeholders, including its partners in the region, humanitarian agencies and the UN envoy.

He also stressed that there is no military solution when it comes to the conflict in Yemen; that only through diplomacy, only through support to the UN-led efforts through [Martin] Griffiths could we conceivably bring peace and stability to Yemen.