PM offers diplomats against Red Sea attacks, no ships

“We think it is important that navigation and freedom of movement be allowed [in the Red Sea].”

While Australia on Wednesday joined in international condemnation of the Iran-backed Houthi rebel attacks on Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea, the US again urged nations to send more military muscle as it reportedly prepares for potential airstrikes in Yemen to cripple the attackers’ ability to target commercial shipping.

“[The Red Sea] is an important body of water, an international waterway for global commerce,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

“All of us, not just the United States” take seriously the responsibility to “keep that free flow of navigation,” Mr Kirby said.

Shadow defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said it was Labor’s job to explain why none of the eight ANZAC-class frigates or three Hobart-class air warfare destroyers are deployable.

“We’re not stepping up to the plate when the British are sending a destroyer, the Americans are sending two destroyers, even the French are sending a frigate,” he told 2GB. “Never mind the Italians or the Spanish or the Norwegians. So, where are we?”

“If we can’t do it because we’ve underinvested in the Navy, well, that’s a problem for the government, and they need to explain why,” Mr Hastie said.

”If our ships can’t defend themselves against these Houthi rebels with their drones and missiles, well then the government has to explain why they haven’t invested in the technology to defeat these emerging threats.“

A surge in its harassment of merchant shipping by the Houthi militant group, which controls vast amounts of territory in Yemen after years of war, has driven a rise in oil prices and forced a growing number of shipping lines and energy companies to consider alternative routes between Europe and Asia that are at least 10 days longer.

US hope for ‘additional countries’

It has also focused the US on widening its patrols of the area via a task force, dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian, involving allies from the around the world. US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on Tuesday said European allies, along with Canada, Bahrain and the Seychelles would add vessels and personnel to the task force.

“We hope [the response] gets stronger and that we are able to add additional countries with additional capabilities,” Mr Kirby said. “We are grateful to the countries that have signed up to support this.”

“You shouldn’t think about this in terms of World War II aggregating fleets. I mean these vessels will be operating as one unit as part of the task force placed in the Red Sea as appropriate to the presence of commercial vessels and as appropriate to the threat coming out of Yemen.”

His comment came as 44 countries, including those grouped in NATO, the European Union, the G7 and Australia condemned Houthi attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea and adjacent seaways, in response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

“The undersigned further encourage all states to refrain from facilitation or encouragement of the Houthis. There is no justification for these attacks, which affect many countries beyond the flags these ships sail under,” the signatories to the statement said.

The Red Sea is a conduit for 10 per cent to 15 per cent of all global trade, 8 per cent of global grain trade and 12 per cent of global seaborne oil trade. It is accessed by the Suez Canal to the north, leading to the Mediterranean, and Bab el-Mandeb, or the Gate of Tears, in the south.

Oil prices rose another 1.5 per cent on Wednesday after jumping as much as 4 per cent the previous day.

Despite a renewed flurry of diplomatic activity to secure a second ceasefire and hostage deal in the Gaza war, the US continues to back the Israeli Defence Forces campaign in the enclave.

Mr Kirby rejected suggestions the US was becoming isolated in its position, saying relenting now would only “validate what Hamas did on the seventh of October” and “leave Hamas in power in Gaza”, which he said was “unacceptable to us”.

Australia last week shifted its position voting in favour of a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

“Every nation could speak for itself. But France and the United Kingdom are terrific close allies and friends. That’s not going to change,” Mr Kirby said.

With Samantha Hutchison.