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The Pentagon has convinced more than a half dozen allies to join a strengthened naval task force in the Red Sea amid mounting attacks by Iran-backed rebels on commercial shipping that have driven oil prices higher.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said the deployments, to be called Operation Prosperity Guardian, would include the UK, France, the Netherlands and other countries to ensure vessels could safely navigate the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a crucial artery for global trade.
The new grouping would work together “to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor launching ballistic missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles at merchant vessels from many nations lawfully transiting international waters”, Austin said.
The defence secretary will convene a virtual meeting of international partners in Bahrain on Tuesday to discuss the escalating threat posed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who say they are striking in retaliation for Israel’s offensive against Hamas.
“We’re taking action to build an international coalition to address this threat,” Austin, currently in Israel, said earlier on Monday.
After visiting Bahrain, where the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is stationed, the defence secretary will stop aboard the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier, currently in the eastern Mediterranean, and also travel to Qatar.
Operation Prosperity Guardian will be housed under the umbrella of the 39-member Combined Maritime Forces and its existing Task Force 153, which focuses on the Red Sea, Austin said.
He spoke just hours after UK oil supermajor BP said it was halting all shipments through the Red Sea, citing the “deteriorating security situation” in the area. BP is a large producer of oil in Iraq and gas in Oman.
More than 9mn barrels a day of oil shipments, or almost a tenth of global demand, pass through the Red Sea, making it one of the world’s busiest energy chokepoints.
The news regarding BP pushed oil prices higher on Monday, with international benchmark Brent settling up 1.8 per cent at $77.95 a barrel.
The creation of the Red Sea task force comes as Washington ratchets up its diplomacy in the region after more than two months of war between US ally Israel and Hamas. General CQ Brown, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, was also in Israel on Monday, following a visit by national security adviser Jake Sullivan last week. CIA chief Bill Burns also met with Qatari and Israeli officials to discuss the release of more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
During his visit to Israel, Austin said the country must be “more surgical” in its military campaign. He and his counterpart also discussed a shift in the Gaza offensive away from high intensity operations.
The US had not ruled out military action against Houthi targets if the attacks on ships continue, officials said. It would “take appropriate action . . . at a time and place of our choosing”, Sullivan said earlier this month.
The US plan to strengthen security for vessels comes as global energy suppliers and commercial shippers begin avoiding the narrow Bab el-Mendeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, where tankers sail within easy striking distance of the Houthi rebels.
BP’s pause to shipping through the Red Sea came after commodity trader Trafigura said it was taking “additional precautions” for its owned and chartered vessels. Several of the world’s biggest shipping companies, including MSC, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, have also paused travel through the Red Sea due to security risks.
Traders are also anxious about threats to supplies of Qatari liquefied natural gas to Europe as winter sets in. The UK’s benchmark gas price jumped by more than 8 per cent on Monday, while the European hub price rose by more than 7 per cent.
Houthi attacks on vessels have steadily increased in recent weeks, with more than 11 since mid-November. On Sunday, the US said one of its warships, the USS Carney, shot down 14 attack drones launched by the rebel group.
The US has blamed Iran for enabling these attacks. Sullivan told Israel’s News 12 last week that it was Iran’s responsibility to end the threat.
Analysts said the attacks raised the prospect of a new and prolonged disruption to global energy and goods shipments, less than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — and sanctions on Russian energy exports — forced a reordering of decades-old oil and gas trade routes.
Raad Alkadiri, a managing director at Eurasia Group, said the move by big shippers, including BP, to bypass the Red Sea would heighten risks and costs.
“Firms have the option of using the longer and costlier route around the Cape of Good Hope,” he said. “The heightened political risks will add to underlying uncertainty about the outlook for oil supply and demand in 2024.”
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