The United States is open to removing the Ansarallah movement, more commonly known as the Houthis, from its list of designated terrorist organizations if the Iranian-backed jihadist group ceases its attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis are currently holding captive the 25 crew members of the Japanese cargo ship the Galaxy Leader, which the group hijacked in November.

Tim Lenderking, the United States special envoy for Yemen, said to reporters that releasing the sailors would "show good faith" and an "intent to de-escalate" on the part of the Houthis, according to Bloomberg News.

Pakistan Navy not part of US coalition against Houthis ‘fighting’ Israeli ships

Earlier, Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Senator Mushtaq Ahmed said Pakistan Navy ISPR Director General (DG) sent him a ‘clarification’ over the Navy’s deployment in the Red Sea and reiterated that Pakistan Navy stood with the people of Gaza and their hearts bleed over the human rights violations in Gaza.

Senator Mushtaq posted on X, “I would like to clarify that the press release we have issued regarding deployment of our ships in the Arabian Sea for protection of Pakistan bound shipping and international shipping traversing through our area has nothing to do with Hamas and Israeli conflict."