Salvage teams to get access to leaking Red Sea tanker

Yemen's Houthi rebels have agreed to allow salvage teams to reach a Suezmax tanker that is unmanned, on fire and leaking oil in the Red Sea after it was targeted by the militant group last week, Iran's mission to the UN said late Wednesday.

Some countries asked for tugboats and rescuers to be able to access the area "with a temporary ceasefire", Iran's mission said. The Houthis have agreed to the request "given the humanitarian and environmental considerations", it said.

The Greek-flagged Sounion was sailing from Iraq to Greece carrying a cargo of close to 1mn bl of Basrah Heavy crude when it was attacked on 21 August. Three projectiles were fired at the vessel, causing it to lose engine power.

The crew comprising two Russian and 23 Filipino sailors were rescued soon after by EU member naval forces and evacuated to Djibouti, the nearest safe port of call.

Houthi spokesman Mohamad Abdulsalam confirmed the comments from the Iranian mission, posting on social media platform X that the group had given permission for the Sounion to be towed "after numerous international parties especially European ones" had reached out to them on the issue.

The move came just a day after the Pentagon said an attempt at salvaging the vessel had been thwarted after tugboats were warned away by the Houthis.

"We are aware of a third party that attempted to sent two tugs to the vessel to help salvage, but they were warned away by the Houthis and threatened with being attacked, which again demonstrates their blatant disregard for not only human life, but also for the potential environmental catastrophe this presents," the Pentagon's press secretary, Pat Ryder, said on 27 August.

The EU's naval mission in the region said the ship had been on fire since 23 August.

No end in sight

The targeting of the Sounion is the latest in a long line of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in and around the Red Sea. The group said its attacks are in support of the Palestinians following Israel's offensive in Gaza.

The Houthis claim to only attack vessels that are going to or from Israel, or ships that are Israeli owned. But many of the vessels that have been targeted since the campaign started in November last year have not had an obvious link to Israel, including the Sounion.

Despite efforts by the international community to stop the attacks, the Houthis have reiterated that their campaign will continue until Israel ends its military offensive in Gaza.

"The burning of the [Sounion] is an example of Yemen's seriousness in targeting any ship that violates the Yemeni decision to prevent any ship from crossing to the ports of occupied Palestine," Abdulsalam said on X.

The "aim is to exert pressure on the Zionist enemy to stop its aggression in Gaza", he said. "All shipping companies linked to the Zionist enemy must realise that their ships will remain vulnerable to Yemeni strikes… until the aggression stops and the siege on Gaza is lifted."

By Nader Itayim