The Shell oil company, one of the largest oil companies in the world, has announced it is suspending all shipments through the Red Sea indefinitely because of the attacks from the terrorist Houthis from Yemen.
In December, a Shell-chartered tanker was attacked by Houthi boats. The British-based company joins British Petroleum, which stated last month it would suspend its ships sailing through the Red Sea. That followed other companies, including A.P. Moller-Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, and CMA CGM, diverting their ships.
Roughly 12% of total global seaborne oil trade is transported through the Red Sea, The Wall Street Journal noted, adding, “Tanker owners said after the U.S.-led strike that a number of captains of chartered vessels heading for Europe via the Suez Canal have refused to enter the Red Sea, forcing them to sail through a lengthy route around Southern Africa.”
“The United Kingdom and the United States, with support from The Netherlands, Canada, Bahrain, and Australia, have carried out targeted strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen,” Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron said last Friday. He continued:
Freedom of navigation across international lanes in the Red Sea must be protected. And this is why we’re taking action. It is necessary, legal, proportionate, and right. The U.K. along with the U.S. and other allies, including the United Nations Security Council, have repeatedly made clear that these illegal Houthi attacks are completely unacceptable. There have been warning after warning, but the attacks have continued, including most recently the attack involving our own ship, HMS Diamond, which included 18 drones and a number of missiles, and was one of the biggest to date. … The Houthis should be clear that we are serious when we say these actions against U.K. and other ships are unacceptable. And it’s right that we’ve taken this action.
Last Friday, Houthi leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi spoke at a rally in San’a’s Sabeen Square, telling the cheering throng, “America is the devil. America is your enemy. America is terrorism.”
On Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei praised the Houthis attacks on maritime shipping, saying, “We hope, God willing, that these struggles, this resistance, and those actions will continue until victory is achieved.”