US sanctions Russia-based network for aiding Houthis as strikes continue
The sanctions target several individuals based in Russia accused of assisting Houthi official Sa’id al-Jamal, who has been under US sanctions since 2021.
WASHINGTON — The US Treasury Department on Wednesday announced new sanctions targeting a Russian-based network that allegedly supports Yemen’s Houthis.
What happened: Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said that it would implement sanctions on multiple Russian-based individuals and entities who helped in the procurement of weapons and other resources for Iran-backed Houthi militants.
The sanctions come amid escalating tit-for-tat strikes between the US and the Houthis. The Houthis claim to have targeted the USS Harry S. Truman, a US aircraft carrier stationed in the region, on Tuesday. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree on Tuesday also claimed that the group had downed an American MQ-9 drone. The US military reportedly told The Associated Press that it was aware of the claims, but it declined to comment any further.
Among the individuals sanctioned on Tuesday were two Russia-based Afghan businessmen and brothers, Hushang Ghairat and Sohrab Ghairat. According to Treasury, the two individuals have assisted Sa’id al-Jamal — a senior Houthi financial official sanctioned in 2021 and allegedly backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — with "Houthi commercial initiatives in Russia, including arms procurement." Per Treasury, Sohrab heads three LLCs in Russia — Sky Frame, Edison and Kolibri Group — which the US also sanctioned.
Treasury alleges that the brothers, at the direction of Jamal, facilitated the transport of at least two shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain from Crimea to Yemen in 2024. The US also sanctioned Russian nationals Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Vidanov and Yuri Vladimirovich Belyakov, both of whom served as captains of the ship that transported the stolen Ukrainian grain.
In addition to the sanctions targeting Russia-based individuals, Treasury will also sanction Turkey-based Iranian national Hassan Jafari, who has worked with the brothers and Jamal “to launder dollars on behalf of Sa’id al-Jamal's network” and “arranged payments worth millions of dollars in support of shipments benefiting the Houthis," per Treasury's statement.
Why it matters: The announcement is the latest in a series of sanctions on the Houthis and Houthi-linked networks. The sanctions have escalated alongside US military action against the group.
On March 15, the US carried out its first strikes against the Houthis since US President Donald Trump took office in January. Following the first wave of strikes, US national security adviser Mike Waltz told CBS that the strikes had killed the Houthis' "head missileer," though the US military has not provided confirmation or further information as to the identity of the Houthi official said to be killed in the strike.
Subsequent strikes have occurred almost daily since then. The US struck again overnight Tuesday, targeting an area near Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and its northwest province of Saada.
Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Monday that unless the Houthis "stop shooting at US ships," US strikes on the group will continue. "The real pain is yet to come for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran," he wrote.
The rebel group estimate that the recent wave of US strikes has killed at least 61 people in Yemen.
The Houthis have become a key focus in the Middle East for Trump’s administration due to the group's attacks on international shipping routes off of Yemen’s Red Sea coast since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, which began after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The attacks have targeted commercial shipping in the crucial waterway that accounts for 10% of global seaborne trade.
Know more: In early March, Treasury imposed fresh sanctions on eight senior Houthi political officials, focusing on those with ties to Russia and China. Just a week before those sanctions, the US sanctioned 13 individuals, entities and a ship linked with Jamal.
