US imposes sanctions on individuals and entities in Russia involved in supplying weapons, sensitive goods, and stolen Ukrainian grain to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.
The United States has announced new sanctions against individuals and entities operating out of Russia for their role in facilitating weapons and commodity transfers—among them stolen Ukrainian grain—to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.
Among those targeted are Afghan businessmen Hushang and Sohrab Ghairat, both based in Russia, who allegedly assisted senior Houthi figure Sa’id al-Jamal in securing multimillion-dollar deals for shipments to Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. The transactions, according to the Treasury, involved arms, sensitive goods, and grain taken from Ukraine.
“The Houthis remain reliant on Sa’id al-Jamal and his network to procure critical goods to supply the group’s terrorist war machine,” stated Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as quoted by Reuters. “Today’s action underscores our commitment to degrading the Houthis’ ability to threaten the region through their destabilizing activities.”
The measures are part of the US effort to crack down on the Houthis, who have upped their attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and launched missiles towards Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza. A US military operation against the Houthis was officially launched last month, with strikes against Houthi defense capabilities, as well as missile and drone systems.
Two weeks ago, Trump stated that the Houthis would be “completely annihilated” and added that Iranian support would only impede but not stop the Houthis’ destruction.
Last week, Trump said that the Houthis now want peace because the US attacks on them have been very successful, while stressing that those strikes will continue for a very long time. “The Houthis want peace, because they’re getting the hell knocked out of them. It’s been very, very strong. The Houthis are dying for peace. They don’t want this,” he told reporters.
“The attacks have been very successful, even beyond our wildest expectations. We’ve hit them very hard, very successfully. And we’re going to do it for a long time. We’re going to keep it going for a long time,” Trump stated.
