BRUSSELS (The Thursday Times) — Saudi Arabia is pressing the European Union to designate Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement as a terrorist organisation, but has yet to overcome European fears that a listing could undermine any future peace process, six European officials said on Thursday.
The push is part of a wider effort by Riyadh to raise international pressure on the group, which has carried out near-daily attacks on the kingdom in recent weeks. Listing the Houthis would need the backing of all 27 EU member states, and so far only a small number support it, one of the officials said, without naming them.
The Houthis are already under EU sanctions, including an arms embargo and asset freezes on 12 commanders, and the bloc has designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, a key backer of the group, as a terrorist organisation. The United States, Canada, and Australia have already listed the Houthis as terrorists.
EU foreign policy spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said the bloc was in regular contact with Riyadh on a range of issues, including developments in the region, but declined to comment on any specific discussions.
Why Europe is hesitant
European governments worry that a listing would close the limited channels they keep open to the Houthis and could shut them out of any future peace talks on Yemen, the officials said. Some also noted that an EU terrorist designation is hard to reverse, because lifting it again would need every member state to agree.
Joana de Deus Pereira, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said European states wanted to show solidarity with Saudi Arabia but feared the Houthis could retaliate against European ships near Yemen, and that a listing could complicate the work of aid groups in areas the group controls.
The European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on October 22 calling on the EU to put the Houthis on its terrorist list.
A war that has resumed
A truce agreed in 2022 between the Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government collapsed in July, after the Houthis accused Riyadh of bombing Sanaa airport. Since then both sides have carried out cross-border attacks that have killed and wounded civilians, and Saudi air defences have repeatedly intercepted missiles and drones fired at Riyadh and the holy cities.
The Group of Seven has condemned the Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and told Iran to stop arming the group, and Egypt has confirmed that its troops are in Saudi Arabia to help guard the holy sites.
Any escalation at sea would add to the strain on global trade. Yemen’s coast runs along the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key route between Europe and Asia, while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been disrupted by the war with Iran.
