Italy to deploy warships to protect shipping through Bab al-Mandeb

Italy’s defence minister warns of severe economic fallout if Bab al-Mandeb becomes impassable, bypassing EU delays.

A commercial vessel is anchored off Yemen's coast at Bab al-Mandeb, in the straits connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean on September 12, 2026 [AFP]

Italy will deploy warships to ensure safe passage for its commercial vessels through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said, adding that Rome would not wait for a joint decision from the European Union.

“We have the capabilities to protect the passage,” Crosetto said, warning that if the waterway became impassable, the economic consequences would be severe.

list 1 of 3 Djibouti calls for assistance as thousands of Yemenis flee to country

list 2 of 3 Yemeni forces target Houthis as US rules out direct role

list 3 of 3 ‘They called us’: Has Trump abandoned Bab al-Mandeb to the Houthis?

The Italian defence minister said that Rome “must not allow bureaucratic delays in decision-making to exacerbate an already complex situation”.

Bab al-Mandeb links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, forming one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors between Europe and Asia and a critical route for oil, gas and container traffic heading to and from the Suez Canal.

Roughly 12 to 15 percent of global trade has historically passed through the narrow waterway, which separates Yemen from Djibouti and Eritrea on the African side and is only about 30km (19 miles) wide at its narrowest point.

The strait’s importance has grown sharply since Iran effectively seized control of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year amid its war with the United States and Israel, choking off the world’s most important oil chokepoint and pushing much of the Gulf’s crude exports towards alternative routes.

Saudi Arabia, in particular, has increasingly relied on pipelines and Red Sea shipping to bypass Hormuz altogether, making the Bab al-Mandeb strait one of the last major arteries still open to Gulf oil reaching global markets.

Control of the strait has been contested for years, as Yemen’s government, Houthi rebels and, at times, forces in the region have held stretches of its coastline at different points since the war in Yemen began in 2015.

The significance of the strait has been hit dramatically in the past few weeks, when the Iran-backed Houthi movement launched a rapid offensive that brought the entirety of Yemen’s western Red Sea coast under its control, including several strategically located islands.

The advance has given the Houthis effectively unrestricted access to the waterway, a development seen as a major setback for international shipping, given the group’s history of attacking vessels it associates with the US or its allies in the region.

The US and the European Union have already carried out military operations aimed at better protecting merchant ships from Houthi attacks in the area, though those efforts have struggled to fully secure the route as fighting in Yemen has escalated.

意大利国防部长警告称，如果曼德海峡大桥无法通行，绕过欧盟的延误，将会造成严重的经济后果。

2026年9月12日，一艘商船停泊在也门曼德海峡沿岸，该海峡连接红海、亚丁湾和印度洋。[法新社]

意大利国防部长圭多·克罗塞托表示，意大利将部署军舰以确保其商船安全通过曼德海峡，并补充说，罗马不会等待欧盟的联合决定。

克罗塞托说：“我们有能力保护这条航道。”他警告说，如果这条水道无法通行，将会造成严重的经济后果。

吉布提呼吁援助，数千名也门人逃往该国（列表1/3）

也门军队打击胡塞武装，美国排除直接参与的可能性（名单2/3）

列表 3/3 “他们呼唤我们”：特朗普是否已将曼德海峡拱手让给胡塞武装？

意大利国防部长表示，罗马“绝不能允许官僚主义的决策拖延加剧本已复杂的局势”。

曼德海峡连接红海和亚丁湾，是连接欧洲和亚洲的世界上最繁忙的航运通道之一，也是往返苏伊士运河的石油、天然气和集装箱运输的重要通道。

历史上，全球约有 12% 至 15% 的贸易量通过这条狭窄的水道运输。这条水道将也门与非洲一侧的吉布提和厄立特里亚分隔开来，其最窄处仅约 30 公里（19 英里）宽。

今年早些时候，伊朗在与美国和以色列的战争中有效地控制了霍尔木兹海峡，切断了世界上最重要的石油咽喉要道，并将海湾地区的大部分原油出口推向了其他路线，此后该海峡的重要性急剧增加。

沙特阿拉伯尤其依赖管道和红海航运完全绕过霍尔木兹海峡，使得曼德海峡成为海湾石油进入全球市场的最后一条主要通道之一。

多年来，也门政府、胡塞武装以及该地区的其他武装力量一直在争夺海峡的控制权。自 2015 年也门战争爆发以来，双方都曾先后控制过海峡的部分海岸线。

在过去几周里，海峡的重要性受到了巨大打击，伊朗支持的胡塞武装发动了一场迅速的攻势，控制了也门西部红海沿岸的整个地区，包括几个具有战略意义的岛屿。

此次推进使胡塞武装实际上获得了对该水道的完全控制权，鉴于该组织曾多次袭击与美国或其在该地区盟友有关的船只，这一事态发展被视为国际航运的重大挫折。

美国和欧盟已经开展军事行动，旨在更好地保护该地区的商船免受胡塞武装的袭击，但随着也门战事升级，这些努力难以完全确保航线的安全。