The US has imposed new sanctions on three individuals and six entities that have facilitated weapons procurement for Yemen’s Houthis.
The sanctions targeted a ship involved in arms smuggling for the Iran-backed group, and companies based in China, the Sultanate of Oman, and the UAE.
“We have sanctioned three individuals and six entities that facilitated the purchase of weapons for the Houthis. Additionally, we have designated one ship owned by one of the sanctioned entities as prohibited property,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Miller emphasized Washington’s commitment to using “the tools available to obstruct the flow of military materials to Yemen.”
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement that the sanctions involved an individual based in China.
“Ali Abd-al-Wahhab Muhammad al-Wazir is a China-based Houthi-affiliated individual who plays a key role in procuring materials that enable Houthi forces to manufacture advanced conventional weapons inside Yemen,” it said.
The statement also noted that al-Wazir uses his China-based company, Guangzhou Tasneem Trading Company Limited (Guangzhou Tasneem), to obtain these items and ship them to Yemen.
Guangzhou Tasneem is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Tasneem Trading Company Limited.
The US Treasury imposed sanctions on another individual, Muaadh Ahmed Mohammed al-Haifi, who runs the Oman-based International Smart Digital Interface Limited Liability Company (ISDI) that has purchased and facilitated the transfer of cruise missile components, manufacturing equipment, and other dual-use materials into Yemen.
According to the Treasury, al-Haifi’s activities had played a key role in the 2020 Houthi attacks on a Saudi Aramco facility in the region using a Quds-type land attack cruise missile that contained components that ISDI had sourced from a PRC-based supplier.
Also, the Treasury imposed sanctions on the Cameroon-flagged OTARIA, which is managed by UAE-based Stellar Wave Marine L.L.C and captained by Vyacheslav Salyga. It said the ship loaded commodities associated with Houthi financier Said al-Jamal in late May 2024 to be discharged in Singapore.
Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said the sanctions aim to stop the “Houthis’ continued, indiscriminate, and reckless attacks against unarmed commercial vessels and which are made possible by their access to key components necessary for the production of their missiles and UAVs.”
