Yemen: Biden admits UK-US action hasn’t yet stopped ship attacks in Red Sea
Britain is continuing to urge Houthis to “desist” from carrying out “illegal” and disruptive attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea as the US conducts a fifth strike on military sites in Yemen.
Rishi Sunak has said the situation remained “concerning” as attacks on commercial shipping in the region persisted despite RAF intervention.
The UK joined the US in carrying out air strikes against the Iran-backed group last week but clashes along vital global trade routes in the Middle East, with warships also being targeted, have continued since.
The US military confirmed on Thursday that it had fired another wave of ship and submarine-launch missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites.
It marks the fourth time in days that it has directly targeted the group in Yemen as violence that ignited in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war continues to spill over in the Middle East.
President Joe Biden said the US would continue the strikes, even though so far they have not stopped the Houthis from continuing to harass commercial and military vessels.
“When you say working, are they stopping the Houthis, no. Are they going to continue, yes," he said in an exchange with reporters at the White House.
Hours after Biden spoke, Houthi Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a prerecorded statement that its forces had carried out another missile attack against the Marshall Islands-flagged, US-owned cargo ship Chem Ranger.
Saree said the attack took place in the Gulf of Aden, the waters just south of Yemen.
That attack did not affect the ship, US Central Command said in a statement late Thursday.
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Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron met Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian while in Davos for the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including an emerging tit-for-tat clash between Tehran and Pakistan.
He said Iran should “expect a very strong response” from the West for both its backing of proxies in the region, with the Islamic republic a known supporter of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and its recent attacks on Pakistan and Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Meanwhile Defence Secretary Grant Shapps visited the British warship HMS Diamond, which is currently stationed in the Red Sea.
He praised the work of the crew onboard for "defending Freedom of Navigation, saving innocent lives and ensuring merchant shipping is protected from the illegal Houthi attacks."
The US has strongly warned Iran to cease providing weapons to the Houthis.
For months, the Houthis have claimed attacks on ships in the Red Sea that they say are either linked to Israel or heading to Israeli ports.
They say their attacks aim to end the Israeli air-and-ground offensive in the Gaza Strip that was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7 attack in southern Israel.
But the links to the ships targeted in the assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.
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