British ship attacked in Red Sea by Iran-trained Houthi rebels
HOUTHI rebels, who have fired missiles at a Royal Navy vessel in the Red Sea, were trained at an elite Iranian naval academy.
About 200 Yemeni mercenaries were sent to Iran’s leading naval institution to receive instruction from Revolutionary Guard officials, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. Details of the training, gathered by intelligence sources in Iran, demonstrate Tehran’s direct involvement in widening the conflict in the Middle East.
Yesterday, Britain was considering retaliatory strikes on land targets in Yemen, understands. UK and US naval forces shot down missiles and drones in the Red Sea on Tuesday that were believed to be fired by the Houthis in support of Hamas.
At least one missile targeted a Royal Navy battleship for the first time, prompting a threat of retaliation by Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “This cannot continue and we won’t allow it to continue so watch this space.”
British and US sources said Western officials were drawing up options for a retaliatory attack, including hitting Houthi rebel positions in Yemen.
Houthi rebels, who control swathes of Yemen including key coastal positions, declared war on Israel shortly after the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. They are believed to be backed and armed by Iran.
A group of 200 travelled to the Khameini Academy of Naval Sciences and Technology in Ziba Kenar, on the Caspian coastline, sources inside Iran said. The claim was verified by multiple defence sources.
A section of the facility is dedicated to a six-month training course for foreign mercenaries under the command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s (IRGC) Quds Force, including the Houthis. The academy was established in 2013 and within four years all IRGC naval training, including that of Iran’s
proxies, was transferred there. The first course for Houthis in naval science and technology was launched in January 2020, and the Houthis were housed separate from other students, who were barred from interacting with them in order to prevent intelligence leaks.
An international coalition has launched patrols in the Red Sea to protect merchant vessels, and warned on Jan 3 that “Houthis will bear the responsibility for the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, or the free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways”.
Tuesday’s attack, which targeted HMS Diamond among other ships, appeared to cross the coalition’s red lines. Mr Shapps hinted at retaliation but the Ministry of Defence would not be drawn on details.
The militant group has claimed that the ships targeted so far were linked to Israel. Sources in Iran said Ayatollah Khameini, the country’s supreme leader, has taken a personal role in the Red Sea blockade in November, supporting the further provision of weapons and equipment to the Houthis.
The world’s largest shipping firms are continuing to avoid the Red Sea, adding thousands of miles to journeys, and threatening to drive up prices of goods across the world.
The regime deems the attacks the most effective tactic for the escalation of the Gaza war against its archenemy, Israel.
Tehran maintains it had no hand in the Hamas attacks and no prior knowledge of it, in spite of Hamas leaders meeting with top Iranian officials in Tehran and Beirut in the months leading up to it.
Mr Shapps said it was thought that HMS Diamond had been deliberately targeted by the Iranian-backed rebel group in its latest missile and drone barrage in the region.
“My understanding is that both the ship itself potentially was targeted ... but also that there’s a generalised attack on all shipping (in the region),” Mr Shapps told reporters. He said there was no doubt that Iran was guiding the Houthis on the attacks, dozens of which have been carried out in the region since November.
Yesterday the UN Security Council scheduled a resolution to condemn and demand an immediate halt to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea area. Robert Wood, the US’S deputy ambassador at the UN said: “We’re hoping that it will pass. I don’t know how ... one security council member is going to vote.”
Mr Wood was referring to Russia, which raised questions last week about the impact of a resolution on peace efforts in Yemen and the spread of the Israel-hamas war. It could abstain or veto the move.
It comes as Germany resumed arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia, starting with a shipment of air-to-air missiles for Eurofighter jets. The move is likely to bolster efforts to contain the Houthis, which Saudi Arabia has been at war with in recent years. It comes after a similar announcement by Germany earlier this week in which the government said it will no longer block a British proposal to sell additional Eurofighter jets to the Saudis.
The twin announcements are a major shift in policy for Germany, which imposed a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi leadership and a Washington Post columnist.
Mohammed bin Salman al-saud, the Crown Prince and prime minister, became a global pariah over the murder, which he was accused of ordering himself, though he vehemently denies those claims.