UK to ‘consider’ whether further Red Sea action needed, says Defence Secretary
Grant Shapps said Britain and its American allies will ‘wait and see’ whether air strikes have helped to repel Houthi assaults on cargo ships.
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Your support makes all the difference.The UK will “consider” whether it “has to take further action” to repel Houthi attacks on international cargo ships in the Red Sea, the Defence Secretary has said.
Grant Shapps said Britain needs to “wait and see” what happens after the joint air strikes with the US on Friday, military action that followed weeks of assaults on shipping along the vital global route by the Iran-backed military group.
Sunday saw further action in the region, with the US military confirming that one of its fighter jets shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired towards an American destroyer in the Red Sea.
Mr Shapps, taking part in a media round ahead of a speech on Monday, said the actions by the Houthi rebels in Yemen are akin to “thuggery” as he refused to rule out taking part in further co-ordinated air strikes.
The Houthis’ actions have posed a threat to the flow of global trade, disrupting merchant vessels from passing through the sea to the Suez Canal, a route which serves 15% of world shipping.
The militant group, which backs Hamas, claims it has targeted ships with links to Israel.
But Mr Shapps said the attacks have been “completely unacceptable”, with ships from more than 50 nations affected.
The Defence Secretary said the purpose of the RAF air strikes with the US last week was “not to go into Yemen or anything like that”, but to “send a very clear, I hope unambiguous message” for the Houthis to stop their assaults.
The Cabinet minister continued: “We will now watch and monitor the situation very carefully.
“As we’ve said – not just to the Houthis but to their Iranian masters, in a sense, because they are really proxies for Tehran – this cannot go on.
“International shipping … freedom of navigation is just a given and always has been for many, many years.
“We cannot have that situation where they are trying to harass it, and we will keep a very close eye.
“If we have to take further action, that is something that we will consider.”
Pressed on what will happen if the Houthi assaults continue, the senior Conservative said the UK will “keep it under review”.
He added: “They should be aware that if it doesn’t stop then of course we will then have to take the decisions that need to be taken.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is due to make a statement in the House of Commons on Monday about the strikes, Mr Shapps told BBC Breakfast.
In a move criticised by opposition MPs, Mr Sunak announced the military action when Parliament was not sitting.
Mr Shapps also defended issuing a warning to the Houthis a day before the joint strikes with the US, having told them to “Watch this space” on Thursday.
The Sunday Times quoted a senior diplomat as saying there was “some real annoyance” in Washington after the remark was made.
The Cabinet minister said his comment was part of an “agreed approach” with American allies.
Asked about the report, he told Sky News: “That is not true.
“I speak to my American friends all the time and they – and we – were very clear that we would be signalling the fact that if they didn’t stop, then there would be action.
“And so I used that phrase very deliberately in order to say ‘If this carries on, then we will have to step in’.
“They carried on, and I’m afraid we did have to step in, but that was part of an agreed approach to this.”