The commander of the EU's Red Sea naval defence operation has distanced his mission from daily US strikes on the Houthis, as tension between the Americans and the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels grows.
Houthi rebels on Wednesday claimed to have attacked US warships in the Red Sea three times in the preceding 24 hours with drones and cruise missiles after American strikes killed at least four people in Yemen.
“We are not fighting the Houthis,” Admiral Vasileios Gryparis said in an interview with The National at the headquarters of the EU Naval Force Operation Aspides in the Greek city of Larisa. “We are dealing with their actions against the shipping industry, and we are protecting global common goods like the freedom of navigation, and the sea farers’ lives. We have never injured any Houthis during all these actions that we have taken in that area.”
The EU launched Operation Aspides – named after the Greek word for “shield” – in February 2024 in response to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea to the Suez Canal. It provides close protection for commercial ships, intercepts strikes on them, and monitors and assesses potential threats.
The Houthis began attacking the key global trade artery in November 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians as Israeli attacks on Gaza intensified following Hamas’s assault on southern Israel the previous month. Washington redesignated the Yemeni rebels as a terrorist organisation, as the administration of President Donald Trump takes an increasingly offensive posture towards the group.
Limited assets to counter Houthi attacks
Aspides currently has three vessels – the Italian Federico Martinengo, a Hellenic Navy HS Hydra and a French frigate – to cover a huge mission area extending into the north-west Indian Ocean.
Lacking more assets from EU states, Admiral Gryparis has focused efforts on a 2,200km high-threat area where the Houthis have launched most attacks around the Bab Al Mandeb strait, the 26km wide corridor of water that separates Yemen from the Horn of Africa.
“My huge problem is the number of the assets that I have and the vastness of the area of operation, because I cannot protect everybody there,” the commander said.
EU provision of more assets for the mission could help temper US criticism that Europe is not pulling its weight in securing maritime routes. Up to 15 per cent of global maritime trade volumes typically pass through the Red Sea.
“I just hate bailing Europe out again,” US Vice President JD Vance was reported as writing in a leaked Signal conversation last week, as he supported a suggestion to strike the Houthis.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth replied: “Vice President, I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s pathetic.”
In response to those claims, Admiral Gryparis said that some of the vessels for which his mission has provided close protection belong to US companies, or have US interests.
“If the European countries want to have greater involvement, of course, they have to decide upon that, and I'm already here to deliver,” he said. “I have already given evidence to everybody that although I don't have the necessary assets, we are doing the best we can, and we provide evidence and numbers.”
In just over a year, the mission has helped the passage of more than 740 vessels, 440 of which were provided with close protection – a task that takes about three days per ship. It has intercepted 18 drones, two drone boats and four anti-ship missiles.
Had the mission not acted, “the [the strikes] would have hit the vessels that we were protecting at that time”, Admiral Gryparis said, with potential “loss of human lives and huge damage on board the vessels”.
The Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have wreaked havoc on global shipping, forcing oil tankers and container vessels to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope south of Africa, vastly increasing costs, fuel consumption and transit time. For Europe, heavily reliant on imports from the East, that created an incentive to create a mechanism to ease commercial ships’ passage through the traditional route.
Forces from 21 of the 27 EU nations are participating in the mission: personnel from Finland, the Netherlands and Poland are seen at the Larisa base. The majority of the rest are on board the Italian Federico Martinengo, the operation’s current flagship.
European concerns over the war in Ukraine and the financial burden of supplying assets to the Red Sea mission are factors in the force’s limited assets, Admiral Gryparis said. Not all EU militaries are suitably equipped to provide, either, lacking the necessary naval vessels with air defences.
“The financial burden for the vessels that are being provided lies on the member states that are providing them, so to some extent it might be a financial reason,” he said.
The “evolution” of other issues in Europe including the Ukraine conflict is also prompting some countries to have, “let's say, second thoughts about how to direct their forces”.
Resumption of attacks
After a lull helped by the ceasefire in Gaza, the Houthis have in recent weeks resumed attacks on US military vessels in the area following a collapse of the truce, prompting concerns for Admiral Gryparis that his mission will become more complex.
“We don't believe that any escalation can provide and contribute to the situation in that area,” he said.
In recent days, US Central Command has confirmed multiple strikes on the Houthis, indicating an offensive approach from which Admiral Gryparis is keen to distance his operations.
“Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you,” President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post on Monday, addressing the Yemeni rebels. “Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran.”
Aspides is “totally different” from Washington-led efforts, according to Admiral Gryparis, although his forces co-ordinate with a separate US-led military operation in the area, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to avoid friendly fire incidents and to preserve ammunition by not doubling up on responses to an incoming threat.
“We are not supporting attacks on Yemeni soil,” he added. “So that's a huge difference in how we do things.”
The commander also steered clear of taking political stances on the conflict that prompted the start of the Houthi assault on the shipping lane.
“We are not part of the Gaza conflict. We are not supporting either the Israelis nor the Palestinians,” he said. “We are trying to stay focused on this exact mission and also to describe our mission to the neighbouring countries, and also to pass significant and relative messages to the Houthis on what exactly we are doing.”
The EU does not officially recognise the rebel movement so messages reach them, “indirectly”, Admiral Gryparis said. “Many actors in the area are talking with the Houthis. So by reaching those actors, the messages are also being disseminated to the Houthis,” he added.
Tracking weapons and 'shadow vessels'
In February, the mandate of Aspides was expanded to include the collection of information on weapons trafficking and shadow vessels and sharing it with EU states, Interpol and other international organisations, potentially helping to curb Houthi weapons supplies. Shadow fleets are ships transporting prohibited goods, often used by heavily-sanctioned nations such as Iran and Russia.
“Our understanding is that the weapons that are reaching the Houthis are coming from specific sources,” Admiral Gryparis said. “So if we have a better understanding of where and how these weapons are reaching the Houthis, and we can control it to some extent, this would be very beneficial for the security in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”
Tehran is widely seen as the Houthis’ main backer, although Admiral Gryparis does not have direct contact with Iran and his operation “is keeping a safe distance”, from its forces.
He did not rule out the possibility that the Houthis may increase attacks to increase Iran’s leverage over the US in talks over its nuclear programme, which Tehran is reluctant to negotiate under Washington's maximum pressure policy.
“As far as the Houthis have the capacity and the will to do that, they might,” Admiral Gryparis said. “Even yesterday we saw that the Iranians seized two merchant vessels and confiscated their load. The tankers were carrying fuel. So that means that also the Iranians are putting, let's say, some extra cargo into the fire.”
Long-term solution is diplomatic
Greater co-operation with countries neighbouring the Red Sea is “on the table”, said Admiral Gryparis. He has also reached out to India to try to get them on board; under his mandate, Admiral Gryparis can invite third-party non-EU states to participate in the operation.
“Some of these countries are already participating in other coalitions in that area for other reasons,” he added. “So they could also join a coalition which is totally defensive.”
The mission’s involvement in helping to prevent a potentially disastrous oil spill last summer, and repelling incoming threats, have helped allay concerns in some neighbouring countries.
“This is evidence to them that we mean what we are saying and that we are totally defensive,” Admiral Gryparis said.
Meanwhile, shipping companies want “guarantees” that the maritime route is safe – a promise Admiral Gryparis cannot give. “With the number of forces that I have, I cannot guarantee to anybody that he can pass totally safely there,” he said. “But I'm giving some numbers that the ships that I have protected have been protected effectively.”
Ultimately, Admiral Gryparis believes that diplomacy must supersede military means in providing a long-term solution to the Houthi threat.
“We don't believe that this problem can be solved only with military actions,” he said. “In the long run, we need to have the Yemenis on our side. Europe will still need the trade routes that pass through the Red Sea. So we have to build up something more permanent.”
