Iran is “very directly involved” in attacks on ships in the Red Sea staged by Yemen’s Houthis, the head of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet told the AP.
“Clearly, the Houthi actions, probably in terms of their attacks on merchant shipping, are the most significant that we’ve seen in two generations,” Vice Admiral Brad Cooper said. “The facts simply are that they’re attacking the international community; thus, the international response I think you’ve seen.”
The Houthis began attacking Israel-bound and Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea in November as a form of protest against Israel’s bombing of Gaza. With time, the attacks extended to vessels with no Israel affiliation.
In the meantime, the U.S. and UK sent more ships to the Red Sea and started shooting down Houthi drones and missiles. This unsurprisingly led to attacks on those ships, which in turn prompted retaliation by the U.S. and the UK.
After that retaliation, the Houthis declared that any U.S. ship in the Red Sea was now a legitimate target.
The quickly escalating situation has caused a large-scale rerouting of vessels around Africa, causing delays in the delivery of various goods, components, and raw materials. The supply situation is particularly troublesome in Europe, which is where goods passing the Red Sea normally end up.
The Financial Times reported earlier this week that the Houthi attacks and the resulting cargo rerouting had added some two weeks on average to the usual journey from Asia to Europe, causing chaos and much higher prices.
The great Red Sea rerouting has also involved oil and LNG tankers, sparking concern that the conflict in the Middle East will finally affect international oil prices, which had remained surprisingly resilient for months.
Source » oilprice