Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Monday that the Alborz warship crossed the Bab el-Mandeb strait and entered the busy waterway where the US-led coalition is already deployed. According to Iranian officials, the 51-year-old ship, which was sold by Britain to the Shah of Iran, will oversee naval missions in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
The move draws Iran’s military into the increasingly volatile crisis in the Red Sea, where tensions have risen since the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who along with Gaza-based Hamas are part of the Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” once morest Israel, in December. began attacking commercial ships sailing in the Red Sea. The group claims it only aims to disrupt tankers and cargo liners linked to Israel, but dozens of civilian vessels have been put at risk.
Over the weekend, the United States Navy said it had destroyed three ships carrying Houthi fighters it said were trying to hijack a Maersk Hangzhou container ship in the region. The incident was the second attack on a ship in just 24 hours.
London is ready to launch airstrikes once morest the Houthis
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the attacks “unacceptable” and “destabilizing” on Tuesday.
“Various scenarios are being planned. No decisions have been made and we will continue to look for all possible routes,” he said. On Monday, UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps suggested in an article published in the Telegraph newspaper that London was ready to launch airstrikes once morest the Houthi group.
December. The US has announced an international security effort called Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect the Red Sea. The United Kingdom deployed a naval destroyer squadron and Denmark said on Friday it would send a frigate to help with the operation.
The EU has agreed to join the US effort, but countries such as France and Spain have announced that their warships in the region will remain under national control.
“We are maintaining French leadership and continuing to act in self-defense,” French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu told French television on Tuesday.
The French multipurpose frigate FREMM Languedoc is currently in the region, a French official said.
Transports up to 10 percent. world oil
The Red Sea is a vital artery for shipping cargo and energy exports.
Tankers carrying up to 10 percent of world oil. Brent crude rose 2 percent on Tuesday following last weekend’s attacks. to 78.58 USD per barrel.
BP has already said it will reroute its ships to avoid the region, likely meaning longer journey times and higher costs for consumers.
Shipping companies are diverting their ships around Africa instead of the Red Sea, but so far the economic impact is modest, “though clearly not zero,” wrote Paul Donovan, chief global economist at UBS Wealth Management.
The world’s largest shipping company Maersk suspended its Red Sea service on Sunday following the Maersk Hangzhou was hit by a missile. A few hours later, the same ship was attacked by Houthi ships.
The company said on Tuesday it would “suspend all Red Sea/Gulf of Aden voyages until further notice”: “Where it is most appropriate for our customers, vessels will reroute and continue their voyage around the Cape of Good Hope.”
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2024-07-11 11:39:43