U.S. Yemen Envoy: It Wasn’t a Mistake to Take Houthis Off Terror List

On Wednesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” U.S. Special Envoy to Yemen Timothy Lenderking discussed the Biden administration’s decision to put a terrorist organization designation on the Houthis and defended the Biden administration’s decision to remove the terrorist organization designation from the Houthis on the first day of the Biden administration by stating that the goal was to focus on Yemen, which has allowed for a truce and humanitarian aid to get into the country.

“NewsHour” Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent Nick Schifrin asked, “[W]as it a mistake for the Biden administration to delist the Houthis, in both respects, literally on day one of the administration?”

Lenderking responded, “No, I don’t think so. I think the Biden administration came in and assessed the situation, and very quickly decided that Yemen would be a priority within international foreign policy. And because of, I think, the attention that we’ve given to the Yemen problem, we’ve been able to carve out, with the U.N. and with the Yemeni parties, a truce that’s lasted almost two years, a true end to most of the fighting inside Yemen. It’s a very significant development. We’ve also been able to continue pushing humanitarian supplies. Now these Houthi attacks on international shipping, in fact, jeopardize that truce.”

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