riyadhwashington the united states plans to designate yemens houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization secretary of state mike pompeo said a move that diplomats and aid groups worry could threaten peace talks and complicate efforts to combat the worlds largest humanitarian crisisthe decision to blacklist the iranaligned group comes as the administration of presidentelect joe biden prepares to take over from the trump administration on jan 20a houthi leader said in a twitter post that the movement which has been battling a saudiled coalition in yemen since 2015 reserved the right to respond to any designationthe department of state will notify congress of my intent to designate ansar allah sometimes referred to as the houthis as a foreign terrorist organization pompeo said in a statement late on sundayi also intend to designate three of ansar allahs leaders abdul malik alhouthi abd alkhaliq badr aldin alhouthi and abdullah yahya al hakim as specially designated global terrorists he saidthe trump administration has been piling on sanctions related to iran in recent weeks prompting some biden allies and outside analysts to conclude that trump aides are seeking to make it harder for the incoming administration to reengage with iran and rejoin an international nuclear agreementthe policy of the trump administration and its behaviour is terrorist the houthi official mohammed ali alhouthi tweeted we reserve the right to respond to any designation issued by the trump administration or any administrationin tehran when asked about the us move iranian foreign ministry spokesman saeed khatibzadeh told a weekly news conference it is likely that the bankrupt us government might try to further tarnish the united states image in its remaining days and poison the american heritageaid groups and un secretarygeneral antonio guterres had warned against a possible designation saying yemen was in imminent danger of the worst famine the world has seen for decadespompeo said the united states planned to put in place measures to reduce the impact of the step on humanitarian activity and imports into yemen where 80 of the population needs helpthe foreign ministry of yemens saudibacked government which the houthis ousted from power in the capital sanaa in late 2014 supported the designation and called for further political and legal pressure on the houthissaudi arabia which has been attacked by crossborder houthi missiles and drones has yet to commenthumanitarian catastropheun officials are trying to revive peace talks to end the war as the countrys suffering is also worsened by an economic and currency collapse and the covid19 pandemicoxfam americas humanitarian policy lead scott paul describing the us move as counterproductive and dangerous urged presidentelect joe biden to revoke the designation immediately upon taking officethe norwegian refugee council called for unambiguous safeguards and guarantees to ensure sanctions did not prevent food fuel and medicines from being delivered across a country in the middle of a fullblown humanitarian catastrophewe call on biden to act upon taking office to ensure yemeni civilians can still receive lifesaving aid it saidpompeo said that with the