United States: The UN Security Council has approved a resolution calling on the Houthis in Yemen to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea and to release the Japanese-operated Galaxy Leader, which was taken over a year ago.
The resolution demanding the Houthis, who support Iran, to “immediately cease all attacks, which impede global commerce and navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace,” was approved by eleven council members.
Russia, China, Mozambique, and Algeria were the four members that abstained. Nobody voted against it. China and Russia have veto power as permanent members of the council, but they have opted not to use it.
“The world’s message to the Houthis today was clear: Cease these attacks immediately,” Ms. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement after the vote. Along with Japan, the United States sponsored the resolution.
“With this resolution, the Council has lived up to its responsibility to help ensure the free flow of lawful transit through the Red Sea continues unimpeded,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield added.
Since seizing the Galaxy Leader and its 25-person international crew on November 19, the US claims that the Houthis, who are supported by Iran, have launched 26 attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
In protest of the ongoing war in Gaza, the Houthis claim they are targeting Israeli-linked or Israel-bound vessels; however, many of the ships have no apparent connection to Israel, and many lines have started to steer clear of the region completely.
The resolution’s principal clause recognized that, in compliance with international law, the UN’s members have the right “to defend their vessels from attack, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms.”
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