Houthis Allow Aid for Blazing Tanker in Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthis have agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to assist a Greek-flagged oil tanker that remains ablaze in the Red Sea “in consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations claimed. However, the Houthis did not offer specific details and are believed to have blocked an earlier attempt to salvage the vessel and continue to attack shipping across the Red Sea.

Last week’s attack on the Sounion marked the most serious assault in weeks by the Iranian-backed Houthis, who continue to target shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion in trade that typically passes through the region, as well as halted some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen.

Iran’s UN mission said that following the fire on the Sounion “and the subsequent environmental hazards,” several countries it didn’t identify reached out to the Houthis “requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area.”

“Ansar Allah has consented to this,” the Iranian mission said, using another name for the Houthis.

Meanwhile Yemen's Houthis released a video said to show storming and burning of Greek-flagged tanker Sounion in the Red Sea.

The EU's Red Sea naval mission Aspides said that no oil spill has been detected on the oil tanker, despite 'multiple fires' which have been detected on the main deck of the vessel.

The Iran-backed Houthis targeted Sounion in multiple attacks near Yemen's port city of Hodeidah, at one point causing the vessel to erupt in a ball of flames. The attack set off alarm bells in the environmental community because Sounion is carrying 150,000 tonnes, or 1 million barrels, of crude oil.

The Houthis over 10 months have launched more than 70 attacks on commercial ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.