The Yemen sanctions program is administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and is grounded in Executive Order 13611, signed by President Barack Obama on May 16, 2012. The order declared a national emergency with respect to actions that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Yemen, and authorized blocking the property of persons determined to have engaged in such acts, obstructed the political transition, or committed human rights abuses.
The implementing regulations are codified at 31 C.F.R. Part 552 (Yemen Sanctions Regulations). Unlike comprehensive country embargoes (such as those on Cuba or, historically, Iran), the Yemen program is a list-based "targeted" sanctions regime: it does not prohibit ordinary trade with Yemen as a country, but freezes the assets of specifically designated individuals on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List and prohibits U.S. persons from transacting with them.
Designations under EO 13611 have historically included former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and senior Houthi (Ansarallah) military figures such as Abdulmalik al-Houthi and Abd al-Khaliq Badr al-Din al-Houthi, often paralleling designations under the UN Security Council Resolution 2140 (2014) sanctions committee. OFAC has also used counterterrorism authorities — particularly EO 13224 — to designate Houthi-linked financiers, and the Houthis (Ansarallah) themselves were redesignated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group in January 2024 following Red Sea shipping attacks, and earlier briefly designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in January 2021 before that FTO designation was revoked.
OFAC issues general licenses to authorize humanitarian transactions, including the provision of food, medicine, and remittances, and the program is coordinated with allied sanctions regimes operated by the UN, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Violations can trigger civil penalties and, for willful breaches, criminal prosecution.
Example
In January 2024, OFAC designated several Houthi-affiliated financial facilitators in connection with attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, freezing their U.S.-jurisdiction assets.
Frequently asked questions
No. The Yemen program is targeted, not comprehensive. U.S. persons may generally trade with Yemen but cannot transact with individuals or entities on the SDN List or in blocked property.
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