An armed uncrewed surface vessel launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen got within a “couple of miles” of US Navy and commercial vessels in the Red Sea before detonating on Thursday, just hours after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a final warning to the militia group to cease the attacks or face potential military action.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Navy operations in the Middle East, said it was the first time that the Houthis had used an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) since it began harassing commercial ships in the Red Sea after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
However, they have used them previously.
Photo: AFP
Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the USV’s are a key part of the Houthi maritime arsenal and were used during previous battles against Saudi Arabian coalition forces that intervened in Yemen’s war.
They have regularly been used as suicide drone boats that explode upon impact.
Most of the Houthis’ USVs are likely assembled in Yemen, but often fitted with components made in Iran, such as computerized guidance systems, Hinz said.
US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Christopher Lu said at a emergency UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday that Iran has supplied the Houthis with money and advanced weapons systems, including drones, land attack cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
He said Iran also has been deeply involved in planning the Houthis’ attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
He said the US is not seeking a confrontation with Iran, but Tehran has a choice.
“It can continue its current course or it can withhold its support without which the Houthis would struggle to effectively track and strike commercial vessels navigating shipping lanes through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” Lu said.
This raises questions as to whether any action against the Houthis would also address Iran’s role in any way, which could risk widening the conflict.
A statement signed on Wednesday by the US, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK gave the Houthis what a senior official in the administration of US President Joe Bienn described as a “final warning.”
“Let our message now be clear: We call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews,” the countries said in the statement. “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.”
Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder would not say whether any military action would follow Thursday’s launch of the sea drone.
“I’ll let the statement speak for itself, which, again, represented many nations around the world and highlighted that if these strikes don’t stop, there will be consequences,” Ryder said.
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