In one of his final acts as secretary of state, Mike Pompeo designated Ansar Allah, better known as the Houthis—an Iran-backed Yemeni guerrilla group—as a terrorist organization, thus imposing sanctions. Jonathan Spyer explains why:
The Yemeni interior consists largely of sand and rock. But the country abuts a strategic choke point of global importance. This is the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, . . . a vital route for oil and natural-gas shipments passing from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea and on to the Suez Canal. Around 9 percent of total global petroleum products pass through the strait. Had the Houthis captured the area in 2015, they would have given their patron—Iran—the ability to choke off the Strait at will, and thus to hold the world economy ransom. The Saudis and their allies, [who have intervened to prop up the government the Houthis want to overthrow], failed to reconquer the entirety of Yemen from the pro-Iranian forces. But they did protect Bab el-Mandeb. Similarly, the intervention prevented the main port of Yemen, al-Hudayda, from falling under the complete control of the Houthis.
The result is that Yemen, like a number of other Arab countries, is now subject to de-facto division and ongoing conflict.
Iran uses the territory in Yemen controlled by the Houthis for the launching of missiles on Saudi Arabia. The Houthis also provide a convenient, ostensibly independent address, at which Teheran can “park” acts for which it prefers not to claim responsibility. For example, the Houthis claimed responsibility for the very significant, extensive and sophisticated attack on Saudi oil facilities . . . in September 2019. The attack involved the use of drones and cruise missiles, and was far beyond capabilities that the Houthis could have mustered independently.
From Yemen, Iran and its allies can also fire rockets at Israel.
Read more on Jonathan Spyer: https://jonathanspyer.com/2021/01/18/yemens-houthis-designated-terrorists-pompeos-parting-gift/