State Department official overseeing Yemen discusses U.S. response to Houthi attacks

Geoff Bennett:

Today, the Biden administration relisted Yemen's Houthi rebels as a specially designated global terrorist group. It's aimed at deterring further attacks by the rebels on shipping in the Red Sea.

Today's announcement is a partial reversal for the administration.

Nick Schifrin talks to the top State Department official overseeing Yemen policy about today's move and the ongoing tension.

Nick Schifrin:

Today's designation follows more than 30 attacks by the Houthis on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and three rounds of airstrikes in the last week by the U.S. and the U.K. targeting Houthi capabilities.

Despite those U.S. and U.K. airstrikes, just today, apparent Houthi drones and missiles hit at least two commercial ships.

Tim Lenderking is the U.S. special envoy for Yemen and joins me now.

Thanks very much, Tim Lenderking. Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

Timothy Lenderking U.S. Special Envoy to Yemen: Thank you for having me.

Nick Schifrin:

Why has the Biden administration relisted the Houthis as a specially designated global terrorist group? What's the practical impact of that?

Timothy Lenderking:

Well, the reason that the Biden administration did that is to try to get at the problem, which is the Houthi attacks on international shipping.

And it is not American shipping or Israeli shipping. It is international shipping. And so having a problem of this scope, which is global in its dimension — I mean, bear in mind that 15 percent of international commerce flows through the Red Sea and 30 percent of container traffic.

So the fact that the Houthis have struck at ships that affect 50 different countries, we have really made every effort to show that this is an international problem, and it requires an international response.

Nick Schifrin:

Are these just symbolic? The Houthis have been sanctioned for years, and it hasn't changed any behavior.

Timothy Lenderking:

No, I don't think it's symbolic. I think it will have direct impact. It will have impact on Houthi finances, on ability of entities to do business with the Houthis. So I think there will be an impact.

Nick Schifrin:

Why not then relist them as a foreign terrorist organization, as the Trump administration did, essentially a higher-level designation?

Timothy Lenderking:

We felt that the FTO, or the foreign terrorist organization, designation was not something that was appropriate to the current circumstances.

Maybe we would go to that, but I hope we don't have to. What the SDGT does, as you mentioned, is prohibit certain types of interactions from the Houthi organization, but it also gives us a little bit more flexibility to have carve-outs and licenses so that essential commodities, food, fuel, medicine, humanitarian supplies, can continue to reach the Yemeni people.

There's no desire to hurt the Yemeni people, who've already suffered from eight years of war.

Nick Schifrin:

We will get to those carve-outs, humanitarian carve-outs, in a second, but was it a mistake for the Biden administration to delist the Houthis in both respects literally on day one of the administration?

Timothy Lenderking:

No, I don't think so.

I think the Biden administration came in and assessed the situation, very quickly decided that Yemen would be a priority within the international foreign policy. And because of, I think, the attention that we have given to the Yemen problem, we have been able to carve out, with the U.N. and with the Yemeni parties, a truce that's lasted almost two years, I mean, a true end to most of the fighting inside Yemen.

It's a very significant development. We have also been able to continue pushing humanitarian supplies. Now these Houthi attacks on international shipping, in fact, jeopardize that truce.

Nick Schifrin:

I want to talk about the politics and your efforts to find a durable peace in Yemen, but, first, the humanitarian aspect, right?

Two-thirds of the country needs humanitarian aid. And despite the administration's effort, we spoke to humanitarian groups today, and they said that any designation, even the one that you're making today, could have a — quote — "chilling effect" on commercial shippers and banks that these organizations need to feed the people of Yemen.

So why take any step that could put that aid in jeopardy?

Timothy Lenderking:

Again, the goal is not to harm or create obstacles in the well-being of the Yemeni people. But it is to get at the problem, which is the Houthi attacks on shipping.

Those attacks are also creating problems for humanitarians. They're driving up shipping costs. They're preventing ships from moving into areas like Gaza, which need desperately more humanitarian assistance. So it may be an imperfect solution, but I think we're trying to get the message across to the Houthis and any other actor that would decide to carry out its own particular agenda against international shipping that this is not something that the United States or the international community can tolerate.

Nick Schifrin:

Over the last week, as we said, the U.S. and U.K. have launched three rounds of airstrikes on Houthi drones, missiles, air defense capabilities, the very things that the Houthis have used to attack ships in the Red Sea and in the Gulf.

But, as we also just said, the Houthis launched two strikes at least just today, including on a U.S. ship. So what evidence do you have that these strikes have degraded Houthi capabilities?

Timothy Lenderking:

Well, the strikes that the U.S. and the U.K., in conjunction with other partners, have launched have certainly hit their targets.

I think it's the hope of all of us that we're not getting into an open-ended conflict here. That is definitely not the intention of the United States. The United States wants to hit those capabilities that are responsible for the attacks on international shipping. And I think we have been quite disciplined so far about keeping within those very well-defined parameters.

Nick Schifrin:

But where does this end? I mean, how many rounds of airstrikes do you think you need in order to degrade Houthis to the point where they cannot continue to do what they have been doing on commercial shipping?

Timothy Lenderking:

This won't be a military action alone.

I think diplomatic activity will continue, very strong messaging and outreach to the Houthis, see what combination of pressures, incentives will get us back to an ability where the international community can focus on the peace effort in Yemen and move away from this conflict and the attacks on shipping.

Nick Schifrin:

Could the military strikes have an impact on the peace efforts that you have helped lead, from the United States' perspective, which have had a lot of success? Could the military strikes actually imperil that progress?

Timothy Lenderking:

Well, we remain 100 percent committed to that peace effort.

I think we all want to get back to that focus, that, whatever else is happening in the region, that Yemen can see an end to the conflict that has dogged it for eight years. And it's ironic, but the Yemen internal peace process that I described is at its best point in the eight years of this conflict. We can actually begin to see an end to the war.

There's a road map to do that the parties have agreed on. So we have to get away from the attacks on shipping and dial that back and get back to a focus on the peace effort in Yemen.

Nick Schifrin:

And does that peace effort empower the Houthis, who, at least publicly, have not shown the willingness to bring the peace that you would like to in Yemen?

Timothy Lenderking:

I think the peace effort will have a moderating effect on the Houthis.

In other words, no party in this road map, as I describe it, gets everything that they want. And the Houthis are going to have to show compromise. There are things that they want in this road map. They have incentive. They're looking for international legitimacy. And I think the road map is one way that they would derive that.

And I think the international committee has been very strongly committed to this road map and wants to see it through.

Nick Schifrin:

Tim Lenderking, special envoy for Yemen, thank you very much.

Timothy Lenderking:

Thank you.