E.U.’s Top Diplomat Says Red Sea Mission Needs More Warships amid Rising Houthi Attacks

The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said Monday the E.U.’s ongoing naval security mission across the Red Sea needs to boost its numbers and include more warships, deeming the current size of the deployment insufficient amid intensified attacks from the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists.

Operation Aspides is an ongoing E.U.’s security mission at the Red Sea, launched in 2024 in response to Houthi attacks in the area. Tensions at the Red Sea have intensified in recent weeks, especially after the Houthis claimed control of the island of Perim, located at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Saudi Arabia has been using the Strait to reroute its oil shipments, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

Kallas, speaking to reporters in New York on the sidelines of this week’s United Nations General Assembly, stated that there are currently six warships deployed at the Red Sea as part of Operation Aspides. The diplomat affirmed Aspides is making “a crucial contribution” to the security in the region and global shipping — however, she deemed the current deployment as insufficient, and called to boost its numbers to “more than ten warships,” in addition to more air assets to address the increased threats in the region.

“When Aspides was ​put in place, then the indication was that it needs at least ten ships. ​The situation, I think, is even more grave right now,” Kallas said, per Reuters.

“The E.U. operation Aspides is making a crucial contribution to the security in the region and global shipping, but the operation needs more naval assets and more air assets to address the increased level of threats in the region,” she stressed.

It is reportedly understood that at its present state, the mission mainly relies on three Italian and Greek vessels, with other E.U. members providing varied forms of support.

Per Reuters, Kallas sent a letter to the European Union’s 27-member states over the weekend, requesting them to step up their contributions to the naval mission. According to Reuters, Kallas stated in the letter that the situation, “which is evolving as we speak, is already affecting European interests with repercussions on our supply chains and could have implications for our ability to support our economies which were already hit by rising fuel prices.”

“For the moment, although the Houthis communicate ⁠that they ​would only target Saudi-linked interests, there is uncertainty over ​their course of action with respect to vessels that transit through the Strait. Regardless, they are now in a better ​position to potentially harm maritime shipping,” Kallas reportedly wrote in the letter.

Days before Kallas reportedly issued the letter, E.U. member Italy said that it would not sit idly and wait for Brussels to react to the rising threats in the region. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announced that Italy will deploy navy ships on its own to protect Italian merchant vessels in the Red Sea. The Minister also affirmed that Italy will not wait for Operation Aspides to “decide whether ships can pass.”

“We will take action to ensure that Italian ships can begin transition without waiting for European bureaucracy to compound our own,” Crosetto reportedly said last week.