Above photo: AFP via Getty Images.
The cost of shipping in the Red Sea is on the rise due to the threat Yemen’s Ansarallah poses to Israeli vessels.
Iran’s Defense Minister Mohammed Reza Ashtiani told Iranian media in comments published on 14 December that the proposed maritime task force Washington and its Gulf allies are looking to form to protect Israeli shipping would face “extraordinary problems.”
“If they make such an irrational move, they will face extraordinary problems. Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance,” Ashtiani told the ISNA outlet.
Last week, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed to reporters that Washington is looking to form a naval task force along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE aimed at protecting Israeli shipping lanes, against which Yemen’s Armed Forces and Ansarallah resistance movement have declared war.
Over the last month, Yemeni forces have seized one Israeli-linked ship and carried out naval attacks against at least two others. Sanaa has also vowed that until Gaza’s access to food and medicine is secured, it will prevent any ship en route to Israel from passing.
The shipping cost in the Red Sea has surged as companies resort to expensive re-routes and hiked prices.
On 12 December, Yemeni naval forces launched a missile on a Norwegian vessel that was carrying oil and was destined for the Israeli port of Ashdod.
“There is no way of preventing the escalation except by moving towards a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,” said Abdel Malik al-Ajri, a member of Ansarallah’s political bureau, on 13 December.
“Even if all the naval fleets on Earth gathered in the Red Sea, they would not bring security to Israel or Israeli ships, nor any ships heading to [Israel],” the Yemeni official added.
Aside from the Yemeni threat to Israeli shipping, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval forces are known to have a prominent presence in the Red Sea.
“All countries are present in the region, but this region is ours, and we dominate it,” Ashtiani told Iranian media.