Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that he plans to designate Yemen's Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization.

The Houthis are the de facto authority in northern Yemen, and aid agencies have to work with them to deliver assistance.

But diplomats and aid groups say the Trump Administration's decision to blacklist the Iran backed group could block the flow of aid to combat the world's largest humanitarian crisis, a famine that top U N officials say effects millions of people.

It could also threaten regional peace talks.

The U.

N has been trying to revive to end the war between a Saudi Arabia led military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 fighting alongside government forces against the Hootie's.

The Trump administration has been piling on sanctions related to Iran in recent weeks, which some analysts say is a push to make it harder for the incoming Biden administration to re engage with Iran and rejoin an international nuclear agreement.

A former U.

S.

Ambassador to the Middle East, Ryan Crocker, warned that the Hootie's are an integral part of Yemeni society and criticized the plan.

This move serves no interest at all.

This is making a strategic enemy out of a local force that has been part of Yemen for generations.

They are not Iranian ponds.