“Our intention is not to go into Yemen or anything like that, but simply to send a very clear, I hope, unambiguous message to the Iranian-backed Houthis, that their behavior in the Red Sea is completely unacceptable,” Grant Shapps said when asked by Sky News if the UK would support further strikes on Houthi targets.
“We will now watch and monitor the situation very carefully,” he added.
“Let’s wait and see what happens, because it’s not that we want to be involved in action in the Red Sea. But ultimately freedom of navigation is an international right.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also gave the assessment to parliament, days after the UK participated in air strikes with the US on Houthi targets in Yemen.
“Our military strike against the Houthis was limited and proportionate and came in response to a direct threat to our ships and, therefore, to the UK itself,” Sunak said, adding that the UK had conducted 13 raids on the Houthis with no civilian casualties.
He also stated Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea were “nothing to do with Israel and Gaza and target maritime navigation”.
The British government announced there was no time to have a session in parliament to debate the strikes before they were conducted and, therefore, Sunak’s comments on Monday are his first to parliament explaining why the UK participated.
In solidarity with the Palestinians in besieged territory, the Yemeni armed forces have targeted ships in the Red Sea with owners linked to Israel or those going to and from ports in the occupied territories.
In response, the US has formed a military coalition against Yemeni forces in the Red Sea and endangered maritime navigation in the strategic waterway.
The US and the UK, backed by Bahrain, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, struck more than 60 targets at almost 30 locations in Yemen on Friday, killing five people and injuring six others.
On Saturday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that a “follow-on action” was conducted against a Yemeni radar facility in Sana’a by the Navy destroyer USS Carney using Tomahawk land attack missiles.
The assaults prompted Yemen’s Supreme Political Council to issue a statement, saying “all American-British interests have become legitimate targets”.
