The US administration vowed to hold accountable the armed Houthi group in Yemen for the hijacking of a cargo ship in the Red Sea.

The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle Eastern Affairs, Dana Stroul, described the incident as a “threat to freedom of navigation,” and demanded the release of the ship “Galaxy Leader” and its crew.

She added in statements to Al-Sharq TV that the hijacking of a commercial ship is “a threat to freedom of navigation and freedom of trade, unacceptable exploitation, and a violation of global order,” and called for “the release of the ship and the crew on it without any conditions.”

Yesterday evening, US State Department Deputy Spokesman, Nathan Tech, said: “The Houthis represent a threat to freedom of navigation, which is why we ask Central Command and the Ministry of Defense to work regularly to protect the high seas,” adding, “I cannot go into the details of the latest incident. But we are undoubtedly focusing on freedom of navigation in international waterways for the free flow of trade.”

In an interview with Al-Hurra TV this evening, he reiterated that one of the United States’ current priorities is “to ensure that the conflict does not escalate, and that Iran and its agents do not try to exploit the situation.”

He said: “Therefore, we have engaged in active diplomacy, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s repeated visits to the region to discuss the issue with our regional partners, in addition to the deployment of military forces in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as diplomatic activities against Iranian groups.”< /p>

He added: “We take this issue seriously to ensure that groups allied with Iran think twice before entering into this conflict because this will destabilize the entire region.”

Yesterday, the Houthi militia affiliated with Iran announced the hijacking of a commercial ship that it said was Israeli in the Red Sea, and said that it had done so “in support of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.” Its military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said that they would not hesitate to target any ship belonging to the Israeli entity.

From time to time, militias come out and announce operations that they say target the Israeli entity, in an attempt to whitewash the crimes it committed against the Yemenis over the years, as they killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis, forcibly displaced millions from their homes, villages, and cities, and committed atrocities. Similar to what the Zionist entity is committing against the Palestinians