A senior Houthi official, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti has said that the blame for the group’s shipping attacks rested with the vessels that ignored Houthi orders to change course.

“Our goal is to raise the economic costs for the Jewish state in order to stop the carnage in Gaza,” he said.

The attacks have forced some of the world’s largest shipping operators to redirect their vessels around the southern tip of Africa, severely disrupting global trade.

Speaking in an interview, Al-Bukhaiti promised safe passage for Russian and Chinese vessels through the Red Sea, where the Iran-backed Yemeni militant group has been carrying out attacks on commercial ships in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The official insisted the waters around Yemen – which some shipping firms are avoiding due to the ongoing aggression – were safe so long as vessels were not linked to certain countries, particularly Israel.

“As for all other countries, including Russia and China, their shipping in the region is not threatened. Moreover, we are ready to ensure the safe passage of their ships in the Red Sea, because free navigation plays a significant role for our country.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti

Attacks on vessels “in any way connected with Israel” would continue, he added.

The Iran-backed militants have recently said that US- and British-linked ships were also fair game after the two countries launched airstrikes in Yemen in response to the repeated attacks.

Houthis insist their attacks only target vessels of certain nationalities, but a US Navy commander has said the ships involved actually have ties to dozens of countries.

The Houthis early on Friday claimed another attack on a US ship after the US launched fresh strikes on militant targets the day before.

U.S Pledge To Continue Strikes On Houthi Targets

Meanwhile, United States President Joe Biden has pledged to continue strikes against Yemen’s Houthis even as he admitted that military action against the rebel group has failed to halt attacks on commercial shipping.

Biden made his remarks after the US conducted its fifth round of strikes against targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

Asked by a reporter if the strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen were working, Biden said, “Well, when you say working, are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they gonna continue? Yes.”

Pentagon spokesperson, Sabrina Singh said in a later briefing that the Houthis would have to make the decision to stop the attacks.

“We never said that the Houthis would immediately stop,” Singh said, adding that it was in the group’s “best interests” to halt the attacks.

“You’ve seen that we’ve been able to degrade and severely disrupt and destroy a significant number of their capabilities since Thursday. But it’s really on them when they decide that they want to stop interrupting commercial shipping, innocent mariners that are transiting the Red Sea.”

Singh also said that the US did not consider itself to be at war with the Houthis and that its actions are in self-defence.

“We don’t think that we are at war. We don’t want to see a regional war. The Houthis are the ones that continue to launch cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles at innocent mariners, at commercial vessels that are just transiting an area that sees, you know, 10 to 15 percent of world’s commerce.”
Sabrina Singh

The U.S and its partners last month launched a multinational force, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to protect commercial vessels from drone and missile attacks in the waterway.