Several countries have agreed to jointly carry out patrols in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to try to safeguard commercial shipping against attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
Lloyd Austin
Several countries have agreed to jointly carry out patrols in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to try to safeguard commercial shipping against attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
The Iran-aligned group says the aim of its missile and drone attacks is to support the Palestinians as Israel and Hamas wage war in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi politburo, told Al Jazeera that his group will be able to confront any coalition formed by the United States that could deploy to the Red Sea.
Austin, who is on a trip to Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's headquarters in the Middle East, said participating countries led by the United States include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
"This is an international challenge that demands collective action. Therefore today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative," Austin said in a statement early on Tuesday.
Austin on Monday said Washington's support for Israel was "unshakable" but he urged its ally to do more to protect civilians as its war against Hamas brought yet more death and destruction to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has besieged following an attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7.
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Bassam Masoud in Gaza, Henriette Chacar and Phil Stewart in Jerusalem, Alan Charlish in Warsaw, and Reuters bureaux; writing by Andrew Cawthorne, Angus MacSwan and Grant McCool; editing by Nick Macfie, Cynthia Osterman and Rosalba O'Brien
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran's foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump's threat of military action.
Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran and the United States will hold a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran's atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump's threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
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