US to convene Middle East summit Dec 19 to address Houthi threats to Red Sea shipping

The US is seeking a regional coalition to secure Red Sea navigation, with a summit to be convened virtually Dec. 19, as a series of vessel attacks launched by Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen has already prompted BP and several shipping companies to reroute cargoes.

"This is an international problem and it deserves an international response," US defense secretary Lloyd Austin said in a Dec. 18 press briefing in Tel Aviv, alongside his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant. "We're going to make sure we're doing everything we can to ensure freedom of navigation in that area [as] a large amount of international commerce flows through there on a daily basis."

Austin has been on a tour of Israel, Qatar and Bahrain to discuss the war against Hamas, which has drawn in the Houthi militia, with its threats to attack ships in and around the Red Sea with links to Israel. The secretary did not elaborate on how the regional security initiative would be organized, nor what contributions the US would be requesting from countries relying on the vital shipping link.

"These attacks are dangerous, reckless and they violate international law," Austin said. "It'll be a virtual meeting, and I look forward to that discussion and I look forward to working together with members of that group to address the threat in a meaningful way in the future. We'll have more details on that soon."

Austin's comments came hours after BP said it was suspending its oil tanker voyages through the region, while the Houthis claimed responsibility for several more attacks targeting commercial vessels.

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), CMA CGM, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd AG have already halted shipments through the Red Sea, which is constrained by the 20-mile-wide Bab al-Mandeb strait at its southern tip and the Suez Canal at its northern edge.

Saudi, UAE complexity

Talk to form a regional shipping security coalition could be complicated by disputes between oil giants Saudi Arabia and the UAE over strategy in neighboring Yemen, which has seen a devastating civil war lasting more than eight years.

Houthi militants have attacked critical energy infrastructure in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, most notably a drone strike on Aramco's key crude processing facility in Abqaiq in 2019, but Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have disagreed over which rival Yemeni factions to back in the civil war against the Houthis.

In recent months, Saudi Arabia has entered into normalization talks with Iran, as well as peace talks with the Houthis, while the UAE has favored a more hawkish stance against the militants.

The Red Sea is key for crude and oil products exports from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal or SUMED pipeline. In the other direction, Russia ships significant volumes of Urals crude to Asia via the route.

Aramco, the world's largest crude exporter, has major refineries and petrochemical plants along its Red Sea coast.

The company declined to comment on how its operations have been affected and its security posture, while Saudi state shipping company Bahri did not respond to a request for comment.

More than 135 crude, oil product, chemical and LNG tankers were seen transiting the Suez Canal and Red Sea midday Dec. 18, of which 85 were laden, according to data from S&P Global vessel tracking service Commodities at Sea. Another 165 dry bulk and cargo vessels were transiting the region, of which 108 were laden, the data shows.