US and UK strikes against Yemen's Houthi militants will not remove the threat against maritime navigation through the Red Sea, according to the head of Yemen's Saudi-backed presidential council Rashad al-Alimi.
Instead, partnership with his government to restore the state and retake Houthi-controlled areas will ensure regional security, he said.
The comments, made at the Munich Security Conference on 17 February, came as US forces struck more targets in Yemen on 16-17 February following another attack on an oil tanker in the Red Sea.
"I think that the [US and UK] strikes conducted today will not solve the problem at all," al-Alimi said. "And these strikes won't remove the threat for international maritime navigation and trade."
The solution to achieve regional and international maritime security is through international co-operation with al-Alimi's government and its support so that "it can restore the state and to retake the areas under Houthi control," he said.
Al-Alimi, a former deputy prime minister and ally of Yemen's Saudi-backed President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, assumed power in April 2022 when Hadi transferred his own powers to a new council of key political and military figures. The council is fully backed by Saudi Arabia.
Iran's supply of drones and ballistic missiles to Yemen's Houthis is what is endangering maritime security in the Red Sea, al-Alimi.
Democratic US senator Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, acknowledged Tehran's culpability in the Red Sea attacks but poured cold water on al-Alimi's proposal.
"As I said, the intelligence, but also the equipment comes directly from Tehran," Murphy said. "I do not think there's an appetite in the United States for us to be part of a coalition that would do more than strike from the sea and the air. But we believe can have a deterrent effect," Murphy said.
US Central Command (Centcom) said on 17 February that it had struck a mobile anti-ship cruise missile and an unmanned surface vessel in Yemen. That came after it said four anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Red Sea.
Three of those missiles likely targeted the Panama-flagged, Danish-owned tanker MT Pollux, Centcom said. Security firm Ambrey reported a missile attack on a Panama-flagged tanker off Yemen on 16 February, without naming the vessel.
The Pollux, a Long Range 2 tanker, is carrying around 680,000 bl of Russian Urals crude from Novorossiysk to Paradip in India, according to data from analytics firm Vortexa.
There are no reported injuries or damage to the Pollux or any other ship in the area, Centcom said.
