UNITED NATIONS — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to provide aid an oil tanker under the Greek flag that is still burning in the Red Sea “for humanitarian and environmental reasons,” Iran’s UN mission said Wednesday night.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that attempts by an unidentified “third party” to send two tugboats to the stricken Sounion were blocked by the Iran-backed Houthis. Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that the Houthis’ actions “demonstrate their blatant disregard for not only human life but the potential environmental disaster that this poses.”
Last week’s attack on Sounion marked the most serious attack in weeks by the Houthi rebels, who continue to target shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the War between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion in trade that normally flows through the region and also halted some aid shipments to conflict-torn Sudan and Yemen.
Iran’s UN mission claimed the Sounion was carrying oil to “the Israeli regime.”
According to Ryder, it appears that oil is leaking from the Sounion into the Red Sea, which is home to coral reefs and other natural habitats and wildlife.
The Sounion is carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil and poses a “danger to shipping and the environment”, the European Union’s Aspides naval mission in the Red Sea said on Thursday.
Iran’s U.N. mission said in a statement Wednesday that following the fire on the Sounion “and the subsequent environmental hazards,” several countries it did not identify contacted the Houthis “requesting a temporary ceasefire for the access of tugboats and rescue vessels to the incident area.”
“Ansar Allah has agreed to this,” the Iranian mission said, using the group’s official name.
There was no indication of when the ceasefire would take place.
The Sounion came under repeated attack last week. A French destroyer operating as part of Operation Aspides later rescued her crew of 25, as well as four private security personnel, and took them to nearby Djibouti.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 ships with rockets and drones since the war in Gaza began in October. one ship seized And sank two in the campaign which also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones were either intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
The rebels claim they are attacking ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to end Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some that are bound for Iran.
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Weissenstein reported from New York