© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Iranian Protection Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani reacts throughout a gathering of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela June 12, 2023. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Vilor
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s Defence Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned {that a} proposed U.S.-backed multinational activity power to guard delivery within the Purple Sea would face “extraordinary problems”, official Iranian media reported on Thursday.
Ashtiani’s feedback got here after the USA stated final week it was in talks with different international locations to arrange a activity power following a spate of assaults by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on ships within the Purple Sea.
“If they make such an irrational move, they will be faced with extraordinary problems,” Ashtiani informed the official Iranian Scholar Information Company (ISNA) in feedback it printed on Thursday.
“Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance,” he stated, referring to the Purple Sea.
Ashtiani didn’t specify what measures Iran was ready to soak up response to the organising of a U.S.-backed Purple Sea activity power.
U.S. Nationwide Safety Advisor Jake Sullivan informed reporters final week that Washington was in talks with “other countries” over forming a “maritime task force … to ensure safe passage of ships in the Red Sea,” however didn’t give additional particulars.
Yemen’s Houthis, that are aligned with Iran, have waded into the Israel-Hamas battle by attacking vessels in very important delivery lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel greater than 1,000 miles from their seat of energy within the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
American and French navies have strengthened their presence within the Purple Sea to guard vessels from the chance of seizure or assault by the Houthis.
