By Angelo Amante
ROME, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Italy’s defence minister on Friday called for a stronger naval presence in the Red Sea to protect merchant shipping amid concerns over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital waterway threatened by the widening Middle East conflict.
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have made rapid advances in recent weeks along the Red Sea coast, further complicating routes in a region that also includes the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic had already dwindled because of the U.S.-Iran war.
Italy, part of the European Union’s Aspides mission, launched in 2024 to protect shipping from Houthi attacks, on Thursday said it was preparing a naval mission in the area, saying it could not wait for the EU to respond to the new crisis.
“After what I said, something moved within Aspides, but we need more ships,” Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, a senior ally of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, told Reuters.
“The only nations really supporting (security efforts) are Italy and Greece,” he said, declining to estimate how many vessels would be needed to secure the area.
‘EUROPEAN BUREAUCRACY’
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is 18 miles (29 km) wide at its narrowest point and is one of the world’s most important maritime routes, carrying goods and commodities from Asia to Europe through the Suez Canal.
According to commodities data and analytics firm Kpler, petroleum volumes transiting the Bab el-Mandeb accounted for about 7% of global oil output in June.
Assarmatori, one of the main associations representing Italian shipowners, said about 40% of Italy’s trade with the rest of the world passes through the Suez Canal.
On Thursday, Crosetto said Rome had decided to act with its navy because it did not want the response to be held back by what he called “European bureaucracy”, warning that delays could worsen the situation.
Rome has not detailed what measures it is considering or what naval assets it could send to the area.
Assarmatori President Stefano Messina welcomed Crosetto’s move and said it was in line with what shipowners had been calling for.
“The Italian Navy, which has also demonstrated great expertise and preparedness in this area, is capable of operating while awaiting decisions that the European Union will take regarding the Aspides mission,” he told Reuters.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Chizu Nomiyama )
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