UK considers air strikes in 'final warning' to Houthi rebels over Red Sea attack
The UK is considering air strikes on insurgents behind a string of attacks on freight ships in the Red Sea.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the Government won't hesitate to take "direct action" to prevent further attacks by Houthi rebels. The Iran-backed group say they are attacking Israeli ships or boats heading to Israeli ports.
It comes after the US said its navy had sunk three boats that had been targeting a container ship. The US and the UK are understood to be preparing a "final warning" to the Yemeni group during the escalating crisis. The US military said four boats from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen had fired at the Maersk Hangzhou - and got within metres of the vessel as US helicopters fired back.
Several of the armed boat crews were killed, the US Central Command (Centcom) said. No-one was injured on the ship. Writing in the Telegraph newspaper, Mr Shapps said the UK "won't hesitate to take further action to deter threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea".
"The Houthis should be under no misunderstanding: We are committed to holding malign actors accountable for unlawful seizures and attacks," he said. A Royal Navy destroyer earlier this month joined international efforts to deter attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.
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HMS Diamond joined American and French warships in an US-led task force dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian.
UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said he had spoken to Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, on Sunday. "I spoke to @Amirabdolahian today about Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, which threaten innocent lives and the global economy. I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks given their long-standing support to the Houthis," he said in a Twitter post.
Mr Shapps condemned what he described as an "outrageous" bid to disrupt global trade. A UK Government spokesperson said: "The situation in the Red Sea is incredibly serious, and the Houthi attacks are unacceptable and destabilising. As you would expect, while planning is underway for a range of scenarios, no decisions have yet been made and we continue to pursue all diplomatic routes.
"We call for the Iranian-backed Houthi to cease these illegal attacks and we are working with allies and partners to protect freedom of navigation."
On Saturday, the top commander of US naval forces in the Middle East said Houthi rebels have shown no signs of ending their "reckless" attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, even as more nations join the international maritime mission to protect vessels in the vital waterway and trade traffic begins to pick up.
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