The Trump administration announced sanctions against the International Bank of Yemen Y.S.C. (IBY) on Thursday for its financial support of Houthi terrorists.

Along with the bank, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning key leaders of IBY, like its Chairman of the Board of Directors Kamal Hussain Al Jebry; Executive General Manager Ahmed Thabit Noman Al-Absi and Deputy General Manager Abdulkader Ali Bazara. By sanctioning IBY, the U.S. hopes to stop Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

“Financial institutions like IBY are critical to the Houthis’ efforts to access the international financial system and threaten both the region and international commerce,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender said. “Treasury remains committed to working with the internationally recognized government of Yemen to disrupt the Houthis’ ability to secure funds and procure key components for their destabilizing attacks.”

Based in Sana’a, Yemen, the IBY is controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis and provides the group with access to the bank’s Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) network to make international financial transactions, the Treasury said.

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The IBY, for instance, has allegedly aided Houthi businesses and officials to pursue oil on the SWIFT network, while also facilitating attempts by the terrorist group to evade sanctions oversight.

Under Thursday’s sanctions, all property and interests in property of the leaders named, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Additionally, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.

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State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce sent a warning to those who support foreign terrorist organizations like the Houthis. (State Department)

OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within, or transiting, the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. 

U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce spoke about the sanctions during a press briefing Thursday, sending a message to anyone who supports foreign terrorist organizations like the Houthis.

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday, Nov. 1.  (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

“The United States is committed to disrupting the Houthi financial networks and banking access as part of our whole-of-government approach to eliminating Iran’s threat network,” she said. “Moreover, we can confirm the reporting that Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company Limited (CGSTL) is directly supporting Iran-backed Houthi terrorist attacks on U.S. Interests. Their actions and Beijing’s support of the company, even after our private engagements with them, is yet another example of China’s empty claims to support peace.

She continued, urging partners of the U.S. to judge the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese companies on their actions, and not just their words.

“Restoring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea is a priority to President Trump,” Bruce said. “Beijing should take this priority seriously when considering any future support of CGSTL. The United States will not tolerate anyone providing support to foreign terrorist organizations such as the Houthis.” 

The Southern California lawmakers who represent the Eaton and Palisades fire zones introduced a bill in Congress on Thursday that would give homeowners affected by natural disasters nationwide a break on mortgage payments for almost a year.

The bill, introduced by U.S. Reps. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) and Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), would require lenders to grant a six-month pause on mortgage payments for homeowners who could document evidence of damage or destruction to their properties. Payments would be paused with no interest, penalties or fees, but would not be forgiven.

That pause, known as mortgage forbearance, would apply only to federally backed loans in areas where a federal disaster declaration has been signed by the president, said Chu, who represents Altadena. Borrowers would have the option of extending the forbearance for another six months if needed, extending the life of the loan.

“They’ve lost their home, their whole life, they’re living with friends or living in a hotel, they’re still working with their insurance company to get that hotel bill covered, or they’re applying to FEMA, and now the mortgage is due, too,” said Sherman, whose district includes Pacific Palisades and Malibu. “So it’s like paying rent or a mortgage twice. Some of them are finding that quite difficult.”

Non-federal lenders are not required by law to offer forbearance to homeowners in disaster zones, although they often do. Chu’s office said the bill would standardize the forbearance policies for federal lenders.

After the January fires, which destroyed more than 13,500 buildings in Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu, more than 400 lenders offered homeowners a 90-day pause on mortgage payments without reporting the missed payments to credit agencies.

People who survived the fire, Chu said, “shouldn’t have to worry about missing a mortgage payment while they’re worrying about dealing with so many other things.”

The bill has 11 other co-sponsors, all Democrats, including Southern California Reps. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), Linda T. Sánchez (D-Whittier) and Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), as well as several representatives from disaster-prone states, including Hawaii Rep. Jill Tokuda and Louisiana Rep. Cleo Fields.

No Republican lawmakers have signed on as original co-sponsors, but Chu and Sherman said they hope the bill will receive bipartisan support.

“This is the smallest thing they could do,” Sherman said. “This is virtually no cost to anyone.”

Chu said the bill was inspired in part by a story she read in the Pasadena Star-News reporting that as many as 3,200 survivors of the Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire missed mortgage payments after the January fires.

The story quoted a report by an insurance firm that found that on-time mortgage payments in the Palisades fire area fell 23.9% from December to February and 16.7% in the Eaton fire area. On-time payments rose 0.2% statewide over the same period.

Chu said the disaster bill is structured after the mortgage forbearance clause included in the CARES Act, the $2-trillion pandemic economic stimulus bill that passed Congress with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Trump in March 2020.

The CARES Act required that lenders grant requests for forbearance on monthly mortgage payments for 180 days, with a possible extension of another 180 days.

Last month, Chu and Sherman also asked the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to allow mortgage lenders to grant forbearances of up to two years, in six-month increments, after natural disasters.

The current limit of one year, the lawmakers wrote, “does not account for the prolonged disruptions that homeowners face after a disaster of this magnitude. Allowing a longer period with fewer administrative hurdles would help prevent unnecessary foreclosures, preserve homeownership and support community resilience.”

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem canceled $2.7 million in DHS grants to Harvard University on Wednesday.

In a statement, Noem announced the cancelation of two grants for the university, and declared the elite Massachusetts Ivy League institution “unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.” 

The university has been ordered to submit records by April 30, or risk losing its certification to enroll international students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).

“With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory,” Noem said in the statement. “America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”

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The canceled grants include an $800,303 “Implementation Science for Targeted Violence Prevention” award, which DHS says classified conservatives as far-right extremists, and a $1,934,902 “Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Advisement” grant, which funded public health messaging that Noem’s office described as ideologically skewed.

The move follows President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard and ask for the IRS to revoke its tax-exempt status. 

The IRS is currently reviewing the university’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation, according to sources within the Department of Justice (DOJ). A final decision has not yet been made.

In a social media post, Trump criticized Harvard’s leadership and faculty, writing, “Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders.’” He continued, “Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”

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The DHS action comes amid a broader federal crackdown on campus antisemitism following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. 

In the months since, Harvard has faced criticism over antisemitic rhetoric and protests involving students and faculty. Noem’s letter references “foreign visa-holding rioters” and calls for Harvard to provide documentation of their conduct.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, April 9, in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard is one of the wealthiest institutions in the world. DHS emphasized that the university can afford to fund its own programs and should not rely on taxpayer money if it is not meeting federal standards for student conduct and institutional accountability.

Harvard has not yet publicly responded to the termination of the grants or the DHS demand for records.

The Department of Education is also scrutinizing the university. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon recently launched a review of more than $255.6 million in federal contracts and nearly $9 billion in grants involving Harvard and its affiliates.

Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy,” McMahon said.

This move comes shortly after similar action was taken against Columbia University, as the federal government steps up enforcement on institutions it says are failing to meet civil rights and national security obligations.

Noem’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.