What utter bullshit
What are the French warships doing then? The British? Hey, Iran also has a warship in the Red Sea, are they deep sea fishing while this goes on?
Iran sends warship to Red Sea after US takes out Houthi vessels
By Washington Examiner January 1, 2024 8:30 pm
Iran has sent a warship to the Red Sea a day after the United States announced it had destroyed “Iranian-backed Houthi small boats” that were attempting to attack a shipping vessel.
The warship passed the Bab el-Mandeb strait and entered the Red Sea on Monday, according to Iranian state media, in a potential escalation of tensions in one of the key shipping routes in the world.
More:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2709902/iran-sends-warship-to-red-sea-after-us-takes-out-houthi-vessels/
Iran deploys warship to Red Sea amid soaring tensions
Alborz warship enters Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Iranian media reports a day after Yemen’s Houthis say 10 fighters killed.
Iran’s Alborz warship has entered the Red Sea through the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Iran’s Tasnim news agency has reported, at a time of heightened tensions over the globally important waterway.
“The Alborz destroyer entered the Red Sea … by passing through the Bab al-Mandeb” waterway at the southern tip of the Red Sea, connecting with the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean, the news agency said on Monday.
More:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/1/iran-deploys-warship-to-red-sea-following-us-navy-attack-on-houthis
Iranian Navy Frigate Enters Red Sea As Tensions Escalate
January 1, 2024
by Elwely Elwelly (Reuters) – Iran’s Alborz warship has entered the Red Sea, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday, at a time of soaring tensions on the key shipping route amid the Israel-Hamas war and attacks on vessels by forces allied to Tehran.
Tasnim did not give details of the Alborz’s mission but said Iranian warships had been operating in open waters to secure shipping routes, combat piracy and carry out other tasks since 2009.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea since November to show their support for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in its war with Israel.
In response, many major shipping companies have switched to the longer and more costly route around the Africa’s Cape of Good Hope rather than pass through the Suez Canal, which handles about 12% of global trade.
The Alborz warship entered the Red Sea via the Bab al-Mandab Strait, Tasnim said, without saying when. There were unconfirmed reports on social media it arrived late on Saturday.
The Alvand class had been a part of the Iranian navy’s 34th fleet, alongside the Bushehr support vessel, and patrolled the Gulf of Aden, the north of the Indian Ocean and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait as far back as 2015, according to Iran’s Press TV.
The Iranian warship Alborz is a marginally-effective, 55-year old Alvand-class frigate that displaces 1,100 tons (1,540 tons fully loaded). Its presence in the Red Sea does make the situation more complex, though https://t.co/Ef6ZB2QjNa
— Gary Haubold (@GaryHaubold) January 1, 2024
The U.S. Fifth Fleet said it could not speak for the Iranian Navy or comment on the unconfirmed reports of the Iranian vessel’s movements.
More:
https://gcaptain.com/iran-frigate-enters-red-sea/
Eagle Bulk Ship Hit by Missile in Gulf of Aden
Mike Schuler January 15, 2024
A ship belonging to US-based Eagle Bulk Shipping (NYSE: EGLE) has been hit by a missile in the Gulf of Aden.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) office said a Master reported a missile hit the ship’s port side from above approximately 95 nautical miles south east of Aden, Yemen.
The U.S. Central Command has confirmed details of the incident, reporting that the M/V Gibraltar Eagle was hit by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The ship has reported no injuries or significant damage and is continuing its voyage.
The M/V Gibraltar Eagle is a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier owned by an entity of Eagle Bulk Shipping (USA) LLC, based in Stamford, Connecticut. The incident follows an earlier failed missile launch by the Houthis.
“Earlier in the day, at approximately 2 p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Forces detected an anti-ship ballistic missile fired toward the Southern Red Sea commercial shipping lanes. The missile failed in flight and impacted on land in Yemen. There were no injuries or damage reported,” the U.S. Central Command said.
UKMTO WARNING 009/JAN/2024 – UPDATE 001
ATTACK
Warnings – 2024 (https://t.co/5An1YH0JyE)#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/U3Y3S3qx9V
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 15, 2024
In a statement, Eagle Bulk Shipping said the Gibraltar Eagle was hit by an “unidentified projectile.”
“As a result of the impact, the vessel suffered limited damage to a cargo hold but is stable and is heading out of the area,” Eagle Bulk said. “All seafarers onboard the vessel are confirmed to be uninjured. The vessel is carrying a cargo of steel products.”
The Houthi group on Monday claimed an “accurate and direct” hit on an “American ship” and declared all American and British ships and warships as “hostile targets.”
This latest incident is near where another vessel reported a missile landing in the water nearby after being followed by three small boats on Friday, January 12. On that same day, another vessel reported seeing small boats in the same area.
UK-based security firm EOS Risk Group said that the arrival of the Iranian spy ship M/V Behshad in the Gulf of Aden on January 12 heightens the risk of attacks in the area. “MV BEHSHAD is likely providing targeting data to the Houthis ashore in Yemen,” the group said in a post to “X”.
On Sunday, a U.S. fighter jet shot down an anti-ship cruise missile near Hudaydah, Yemen that was fired from Yemen towards the USS Laboon (DDG 58) in the Southern Red Sea.
Today’s missile attack is the 29th attack on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis since November in support of Palestinians in Gaza. The group says the attacks are only against Israeli-linked ships and not international shipping. The incident also marks a rare successful missile strike since the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian in mid-December. The last reported successful strike took place on December 30 against the M/V Maersk Gibraltar, causing no significant damage.
Today’s attack comes after military strikes by the U.S. and UK on multiple targets in Yemen last Thursday. The U.S. launched a follow-on strike on Friday against a Houthi radar site in Yemen.
The Houthis have vowed retaliation for the attacks.
Eagle Bulk Shipping is one of the world’s largest owner-operators in the midsize dry bulk vessel segment.
https://gcaptain.com/eagle-bulk-gibraltar-eagle-hit-by-missile-in-gulf-of-aden/
You can have this for later
Xi Steers Chinese Navy Away From Red Sea Risk
January 15, 2024
(Bloomberg) As the US and UK launch airstrikes to stop Iran-backed Houthi rebels from attacking ships in the Red Sea, China again finds itself happily sitting on the sidelines.
It’s not because the world’s second-biggest economy doesn’t have a lot at stake: China imports about half of its crude oil from the Middle East, and it exports more to the European Union than the US. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index last week rose to the highest level since September 2022, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, reflecting the added costs of potentially needing to divert ships around the tip of Africa.
But for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the costs aren’t yet high enough to outweigh the risks of getting involved and the benefits of doing nothing. He can sit back and let the US and its allies fight the Houthis, stoking anti-American sentiment in parts of the Middle East, while portraying himself as a neutral arbiter and keeping the bulk of his forces ready to fight in Taiwan or the South China Sea.
Also Read: China’s Plan For Taiwan Invasion Is Not A Secret
“They don’t see much to gain from taking a stronger position,” Jennifer Welch, chief geo-economics analyst at Bloomberg Economics, said of Chinese leaders. “It’s similar to their approach to the Russia-Ukraine war, where they’re calling for peace but refusing to condemn or back away from Russia, or substantially contribute to efforts to advance peace.”
Asian shipping stocks advanced Friday after the Americans and British launched strikes on targets in Yemen, prompting the Houthis to vow a strong response. The Yemen-based rebels started attacking ships in the Red Sea with ties to Israel back in November to show support for Hamas.
On Friday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said China was “deeply concerned” about the escalation in the Red Sea but remained noncommittal on taking any action.
“We hope that all parties can play a constructive and responsible role to safeguard security and avoid any attacks against civilian ships, which is not good for international trade,” she said.
Over the past year, Xi has stepped up engagement with the Middle East in a bid to gain credibility as a global statesman. Last March, he took credit for a detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia, even though questions remain over the extent of Beijing’s role in brokering the deal.
More Middle East nations in recent weeks have urged China to use its regional influence to prevent a wider war, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified. But China faces limitations in persuading either the Houthis or Iran, an increasingly important oil supplier.
“China has very little power projection capability in the Gulf, and certainly isn’t willing to get embroiled in a larger conflict,” said William Figueroa, assistant professor at University of Groningen in the Netherlands who studies China and the Middle East. “A stronger condemnation would risk upsetting their allies in Tehran, and wouldn’t achieve much of anything.”
Some in Beijing also see the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea as beneficial for China.
“In a way, the Houthis have inadvertently done China a big favor,” Xiao Yunhua, a professor at the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University, said in December on social media.
He claimed the disruption would push more traders to use rail networks, bolstering Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative to build infrastructure in emerging economies. “The expansion of the latter is precisely our international strategy to sever US hegemony, undermine American sea power, and promote global multipolarity,” he said.
Chinese container shipping giant China Cosco Shipping Corp. (COSCO) stopped delivering goods into Israel because of the threats and attacks posed by the militants. At least five vessels transiting the Red Sea are using their signals to say they have links to China in an effort to avoid being targeted, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.
China wants to take a holistic approach to the tensions in the Middle East, including the Houthi attacks, said Henry Huiyao Wang, founder of the Center for China and Globalization, a policy research group in Beijing.
“At the root is Israel’s attack on Gaza,” he said. “We need to really look at it as a whole picture rather than just separately.”
In the past, the US and its allies have struggled to persuade China to join international operations. When the seas off East Africa became a haven for pirates, it took several years to convince China that freeloading wasn’t an option, according to a foreign shipping executive in Beijing.
China has rebuffed a US-led task force — Operation Prosperity Guardian — to provide security for vessels transiting the Red Sea. The Chinese navy has vessels nearby conducting anti-piracy patrols, but they haven’t participated in efforts to protect the shipping lane.
The standoff could potentially impact the cost of Chinese imports of energy. China’s oil imports from the Middle East accounted for 46% of the country’s total crude imports in the first 11 months of last year, according to customs data.
Xi would likely face a backlash for sending forces to fight the Houthis, both from those in the Middle East who may oppose the move and hawks in the West who may raise concerns about Chinese military expansionism, according to Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of international relations at Shanghai’s East China Normal University.
“There probably would also be a lot of criticism from some Chinese people,” he said. “Especially the nationalists.”
https://gcaptain.com/xi-steers-chinese-navy-away-from-red-sea-risk/