Iran
Iran's security chief praises “courageous actions” by Houthi rebels who attacked Israel-linked ships in the shipping lane
Iran has rejected calls from the United States and Britain to end its support for attacks by Houthi rebels on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea, saying the accusations were unfounded interference because its navy had sent a destroyer to the vital shipping route.
The destroyer Alborz, deployed as a military ship of the 94th Flotilla of the Iranian Navy, crossed the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and entered the Red Sea on Monday. It came as Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), met Mohammed Abdulsalam, the Houthi spokesman, and praised the rebel fighters' “courageous actions” against “Zionist aggression.”
Tensions between the U.S. and the Iran-backed Houthis, who are eager to send a message of support to Hamas in Gaza, reached a new high on Sunday when the U.S. military said its helicopters sank three Houthi ships and sank 10 following an attack Militants killed in clash in the middle of the Red Sea, one of the world's most important commercial waterways.
The Houthi ships had attacked a merchant ship owned by the Maersk shipping company, the latest in nearly 20 attacks that have led some shipping companies to abandon the Red Sea route altogether.
Britain and the US, possibly along with another European country, are considering issuing a formal warning to the Houthis that they will attack military facilities in Yemen along the Red Sea coast if the rebel fighters do not stop their attacks on Israeli-linked merchant ships.
The Houthis have said the attacks, which have rocked the Red Sea for more than three weeks, will continue until Israel allows full humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza.
The leader of Yemen's Houthi militia, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, had already warned that if Washington attacked Yemen, his forces would attack American battleships in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden.
On Sunday, hours before the high-level meeting between Iranians and Houthis, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron called his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to warn him that Britain blamed Tehran for the attacks.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said there was no reason to blame Iran, but added that Tehran was clearly behind “Palestinian resistance movements.”
“Iran proudly announces that it supports Palestinian resistance movements for the liberation of their country,” he said, rebuking Cameron’s intervention.
Although the Houthis are backed by Iran, their ability to take on the US Navy is limited. The militia controls Yemen's north, the strategic port of Hodeidah and the capital Sanaa, but Yemen's Saudi-backed, United Nations-recognized government based in the south rejects the attacks on shipping.
The US last month launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational, US-led force to protect sea lanes. Although many Western countries provided a token number of sailors, only the United Kingdom provided ships. Neither Saudi Arabia nor the United Arab Emirates announced they would join the coalition, reflecting the domestic political risks of appearing to do anything supportive of Israel.
British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps reiterated in the Daily Telegraph on Monday the UK's willingness to take military action to protect freedom of navigation. “We stand ready to take direct action and we will not hesitate to take further action to deter threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” he wrote.
The Houthis “should not be misunderstood: we are committed to holding malicious actors accountable for unlawful seizures and attacks,” he added.
It is not clear whether the British government would feel a political obligation to seek parliamentary approval for air strikes against the Houthis.
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