The statement is not 100% exact but close enough for a reasonable person (e.g., claimed 70% vs. actual 65%). Learn more in Methodology.
Official State Department designation records listing Ansarallah as SDGT effective Feb 16, 2024 and as FTO on Mar 5, 2025.
U.S. government records confirm that the State Department redesignated Ansarallah (the Houthis) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group under Executive Order 13224 on January 17, 2024, with the designation explicitly stated to "be effective on February 16, 2024." This matches the first part of the statement. For the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation, the Secretary of State signed the determination on February 19, 2025; the State Department publicly announced the FTO designation on March 4, 2025, and the Federal Register notice states that the "designation goes into effect upon publication" in the Federal Register on March 5, 2025. OFAC likewise describes State as having designated Ansarallah as an FTO "on March 4, 2025," while the legal effective date is March 5, 2025. Thus, the SDGT date and sequencing are accurate, and describing the FTO designation as occurring on March 5, 2025 aligns with its effective date, but does not match the Department’s own characterization of the designation date as March 4, 2025. The verdict is Close because the SDGT designation and its effective date are correct and March 5, 2025 is the correct legal effective date of the FTO designation, but official U.S. sources describe the FTO designation itself as made on March 4, 2025, making the claim slightly imprecise on that point.