News / Tension grows amid calls for UN to step in to stop attacks on ships

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Calls from around the world are mounting for the United Nations to step in and address the ongoing attacks against commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea.

And at an emergency meeting convened yesterday by the UN Security Council, governments including the UK and the US warned that the Houthis and Iran would “face consequences” should the attacks persist.

Shortly before the council met, a joint statement from the governments of Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the US warned the Houthi rebels directly against further attacks.

It read: “They are illegal, unacceptable and profoundly destabilising. There is no lawful justification for targeting civilian shipping and naval vessels. They threaten innocent lives from all over the world and constitute a significant international problem that demands collective action.”

To date, 20 vessels have come under attack via drones, missiles and militias using small boats in an attempt to get aboard ships.

Furthermore, the joint statement said, the campaign waged by the Yemen-based, Iran-backed Houthi militia had included what the governments described as the “historic first use of anti-ship ballistic missiles” against commercial shipping.

It added that this was “a direct threat to the freedom of navigation that serves as the bedrock of global trade in one of the world’s most critical waterways”.

However, the Houthi militia group warned there would be no let-up in its attacks until sufficient quantities of aid were permitted into the Gaza Strip, saying Israel’s invasion had so far claimed more than 22,000 lives.

“If Gaza does not receive the food and medicine it needs, all ships in the Red Sea bound for Israel will become a target for our armed forces,” said Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sare’e.

Naval vessels, including those from the US, France and, most recently, Denmark have been sent to the waterway as a deterrent, but the Houthis launched a new attack just days after the US Navy killed 10 of them as they tried to take control of a Maersk box ship.

Addressing the Security Council, US envoy Christopher Lu stressed that Houthi attacks were dependent upon Iranian support, in violation of UN sanctions.

Support included the supply of money and advanced weapons systems, including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, with Mr Lu claiming that the government in Tehran had been “deeply involved” in planning rebel operations. He said Iran now had a choice to make.

 He said: “It [Iran] can continue its current course, or it can withhold its support, without which the Houthis would struggle to effectively track and strike commercial vessels.”

Yesterday, the Houthis also posted on Twitter/X that “the naval forces of the Yemeni armed forces carried out an operation targeting the ship CMA CGM Tage, which was travelling toward the ports of occupied Palestine”.

However, a spokesperson for the French carrier told Reuters that not only was the ship headed for Egypt rather than Israel, but it there had been “no incident”.

At the meeting, Japan’s permanent representative to the UN, Yamazaki Kazuyuki, reminded the council that the 25-strong multinational crew of the Japanese-operated Galaxy Leader remained captives of the Houthi militia, having been held for more than 40 days after the vessel was hijacked.

Describing the crew’s detention as “unacceptable”, he urged the Security Council to take “appropriate action to deter additional threats” occurring across the waterway.

Responding, Bimco, the International Chamber of Shipping and The World Shipping Council expressed their thanks for the mounting international pressure.

In a joint statement they said: “We call on all nations and international organisations to protect seafarers and international trade and support the welfare of the global commons by bringing all pressure to bear on the aggressors, so these intolerable attacks cease immediately.”