US plan to keep up pressure on Houthi leadership in Yemen

Reuters | Washington

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The United States will keep up pressure on the leadership of Yemen’s Houthis, the U.S. State Department spokesman said on Monday, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress he intends to revoke the 'terrorist' organisation designation of the movement.

“I think we will certainly keep up the pressure on the leadership of the... movement,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

The United States intends to revoke the terrorist designation in response to Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, reversing one of the Trump administration’s most criticised last-minute decisions.

The move was confirmed earlier by a State Department official on Friday.

“Our action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, which the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have since made clear would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” the official said.