The United States has imposed economic sanctions on Yemen's former president and two rebel military commanders, blaming them for threatening the country's stability.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday froze any assets held in the United States by one-time President Ali Abdullah Saleh and prohibited Americans from conducting business with him. The same sanctions were imposed on two Houthi rebel commanders, Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim and Abd al-Kahliq al-Huthi.
The U.S. action follows sanctions imposed last week by the United Nations Security Council, which said the three men have been undermining the political process in the Mideast nation and obstructed the transition away from Saleh's 30-year rule.
Saleh stepped down in 2012 under a pact forged by the regional Gulf Cooperation Council. But the United States said that for the last two years he has been "one of the primary supporters of violence perpetrated" by Houthi rebels seeking to undermine Yemen's current leader, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
A Treasury official, David Cohen, said the U.S. supports Yemen in its efforts to make economic reforms and "will hold accountable" anyone who threatens the country's stability.
