Iran: US move on Houthi rebels 'doomed to failure'

Iran on Monday said that a decision by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to designate Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels as a terrorist organisation is "doomed to failure".

During a briefing in Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said after years of bombardment of Yemen by Saudi Arabia, the US has been incapable of reaching its objectives and they have resorted to this action in the last days of Trump administration.

"These actions are of no serious value in the last days of American regime in the White House", he said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Sunday that he will designate the Houthis as a "foreign terrorist organisation" as time runs down on the Trump administration.

The designation will take effect on January 19, one day before president-elect Joe Biden takes office.

The announcement comes as Pompeo and his top aides rush to complete actions they believe will cement their legacy and the president's.

In addition to the Houthi designation, Pompeo in coming days is also expected to likely re-designate Cuba as a "state sponsor of terrorism," according to several administration officials.

Yemen's internationally recognised government described the Houthis as a “terrorist militia” and in a statement issued by its foreign ministry called for a “continuation of the escalation and intensification of the political and legal pressures on the Houthis to pave the way for a peaceful solution to the conflict.”

Yemen, on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

The war, has killed more than 112,000 people, has left the majority of the country’s nearly 30 million people in need of humanitarian aid. The war

The conflict started in 2014 when the Houthis overran the north and the capital, Sanaa.

The following year, the Saudi-led coalition intervened to wage war on the Houthis to try to restore the internationally recognised President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government to power.

(Image Credit: AP)