The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on what it said was a Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the JewsThey like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
-linked petroleum smuggling and sanctions evasion network across Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
and the United Arab Emirates, its latest action targeting the Iran-backed terror group that fires missiles at Israel.
In a statement, the US Treasury Department said the two individuals and five entities sanctioned on Tuesday were among the most significant importers of petroleum products and money launderers benefiting the Houthis, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
"The Houthis collaborate with opportunistic businessmen to reap enormous profits from the importation of petroleum products and to enable the group’s access to the international financial system," said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender.
"These networks of shady businesses underpin the Houthis’ terrorist machine, and Treasury will use all tools at its disposal to disrupt these schemes," he said.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has repeatedly slapped sanctions on the Houthis over the past year.