Recently, the United States announced the formation of a so-called Red Sea escort alliance to protect ships from Houthi attacks, according to CCTV's military WeChat account. However, none of the major Middle Eastern countries that may have been affected by the Red Sea route accident have taken a stand, and European countries have not actively participated.
The United States is being formed
The so-called Red Sea escort alliance
On the 23rd local time, the U.S. Central Command said through social media that two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from the Houthi-controlled area of Yemen to the international shipping route in the southern Red Sea that day, and the missiles did not affect any ships.
Since the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis have used missiles and drones to attack targets in the Red Sea waters on several occasions. The Houthis said they would continue to obstruct the navigation of "Israeli-associated vessels" in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until Israel ceased its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
On the 18th, the United States announced a Red Sea escort operation codenamed "Prosperity Guardian" to protect ships passing through the Red Sea from Houthi attacks.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on the 19th that some countries will conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and others will provide intelligence support.
According to the British "Times" on the 21st, citing a source in the US Department of Defense, the United States has deployed more military forces in the Red Sea in recent weeks than in the past few decades.
At least 8 participating countries
Refusal to disclose identity
The U.S. Department of Defense said on the 21st that more than 20 countries have agreed to join the so-called Red Sea escort alliance, but Reuters pointed out that at least eight countries involved in the operation refused to disclose their identities.
At present, only Bahrain has publicly expressed its participation among Middle Eastern countries, and Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Middle Eastern powers that may be seriously affected by the change in the Red Sea route have not expressed their position.
In this regard, analysts pointed out that the reason why Middle Eastern countries did not express their stance on participating in the US escort operation was that Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Gaza, which triggered a large-scale humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and then caused the Houthis to intervene. If you participate in the escort operation, you are protecting Israel's interests, and in fact, you are maintaining Israel's warring status.
Clearly, the Arab countries do not support the continuation of the war in the Middle East.
In addition, European countries are not actively involved in the escort.
Analysts believe that the United States is currently under increasing pressure to support Israel, so it needs to find more reasons to further support Israel. The Red Sea escort is based on this: when global supply chains are in trouble because of shipping lanes, the United States can use it to push Europe and more countries to support Israel and the United States itself.
On the surface, the United States wants to cool down the Red Sea crisis and extinguish the fire through escorts, but in fact it still adds fuel to the fire of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The United States is just using the Red Sea escort to find a new platform for itself to intervene in the Middle East situation.
Iran: Before the establishment of the so-called escort coalition
The United States should stop its war crimes
On the 23rd, Iranian Foreign Minister Abdollahian denied the previous claim that the United States claimed that Iran was "deeply involved" in the planning of the Red Sea merchant ship attack and that Iranian intelligence played a key role in the Houthi attack.
"Yemen's Houthis made decisions based on their own positions, and we never ordered them to do anything," he said. ”
Abdollahian also said that Iran does not believe that the U.S. statement that it is forming a U.S.-led multinational force to ensure the safety of ships shipping in the Red Sea, which Iran does not believe is the right thing to do to seek peace.
"The solution is not to create a so-called alliance in the Red Sea, but to stop the bloodshed of women, children and civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Abdollahian said that the United States should stop its war crimes until the creation of a so-called escort coalition that does not help improve the situation.
In addition, according to Iran's Tasnim News Agency on the 23rd, a commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on the same day that if the United States and its allies continue to commit crimes in the Gaza Strip, it may prompt the emergence of new resistance forces. He said that "the Mediterranean, the Strait of Gibraltar and other waterways" could be closed.