Any hostile move against Yemen will have dire consequences and great costs, Ali al-Qahoum, a member of the Houthi group's Ansarullah politburo, told Al Mayadeen TV late on Friday.

"The Houthis will not abandon the Palestinian cause, regardless of any U.S., Israeli, or Western threats," he said, adding that operations against Israel will continue.

Yemen is ready with all defensive options to respond to any American, Israeli or Western hostile moves, he said.

"Yemen is concerned in protecting international maritime navigation in accordance with international laws and norms," al-Qahoum said.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. military said attacks from Houthi-controlled Yemen struck two Liberian-flagged ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, underlining the threat to vessels in shipping lanes being targeted by the Iran-aligned group.

Part of the Iran-aligned "Axis of Resistance", the Houthis have been attacking vessels in Red Sea shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel.

The Houthis, who rule much of Yemen, have said they will continue their attacks until Israel stops its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

U.S. seeks 'broadest possible' Red Sea maritime coalition against Houthi attacks.

Houthi military helicopter over the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea.

The United States wants to form the "broadest possible" maritime coalition to protect ships in the Red Sea and send an "important signal" to Yemen's Houthis that further attacks will not be tolerated, the U.S. envoy for Yemen told Reuters.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have attacked vessels in Red Sea shipping lanes and fired drones and missiles at Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza over two months ago, heightening fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters last week that Washington was in talks with other countries over a maritime task force that would "ensure safe passage of ships in the Red Sea," but gave no further details.

Iran warned on Thursday that such a force would face "extraordinary problems".

U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking said the U.S. wanted the multi-national coalition to send "an important signal by the international community that Houthi threats to international shipping won't be tolerated."

The U.S. aims to expand an existing international naval task force into "an international coalition that is putting some resources into protecting freedom of navigation," Lenderking said in an interview this week during a conference in Doha.

The current task force in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, known as Combined Task Force 153, is a 39-country coalition commanded by the vice-admiral of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.

"There's a very, very active assessment going on in Washington about what are the steps necessary to get the Houthis to de-escalate," Lenderking said, calling on the group to release the crew of a ship seized on Nov. 19, the Galaxy Leader.

Lenderking declined to say which countries or how many more Washington had approached to join the expanded coalition, but said it should be the "broadest possible" coalition.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minster Wang Yi last week discussed the threat that Houthi attacks post to maritime security, according to a State Department readout of the phone call.

China, which is not part of the current task force, is a heavy user of the Red Sea route and holds sway with Iran, the Houthis' main sponsor.

SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIANS

The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of solidarity with Palestinians and has pledged to continue until Israel stops attacking the Gaza Strip - more than 1,000 miles from Sanaa.

The Houthis and several other Iran-linked groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and several militias in Iraq, have been attacking Israeli and U.S. targets since the Israel-Hamas conflict began over two months ago.

The Houthi attacks launched from Yemen target the flow of supplies between Asia and the West, and pose a significant threat to the global economy.

The attacks have driven up the cost of shipping goods through the Red Sea, which the London insurance market now includes among its high risk areas.

About 23,000 ships each year pass through the narrow Bab al-Mandab Strait connecting the Gulf of Aden with Red Sea and beyond to the Suez Canal.

Senior sources in the Iran-aligned groups said last week the Houthi attacks were part of an effort to put pressure on Washington to get Israel to halt the Gaza offensive, a goal that Iran shares with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.

US Is Working With Allies to Stop Houthi Red Sea Attacks

The US is working with allies to create a multinational effort to protect ships passing through the Red Sea in an effort to stem a surge in attacks by Houthi fighters that has provoked unease about commercial trade passing through one of the world’s most vital waterways.

An announcement could come any day following weeks of consultations about the violence, which began after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel struck back in the Gaza strip. The Houthis — based in Yemen and backed by Iran — vowed to target Israel’s assets until it abandons its campaign to destroy Hamas.

“We believe that the freedom of navigation and international waters is a rule of the international system that should be upheld,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, the Pentagon’s No. 2 official, said in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg News “It’s an international problem. It’s going to take an international solution, and we’re working with allies and partners on that.”

Iran’s Defense Minister Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani called the plan “foolish” and said the US “will face tremendous problems” if they go ahead with it, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported on Thursday.

“No one can maneuver in a region that we dominate,” he added.

In a briefing earlier in the week, Major General Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department would have more detail “in the near future” on “implementing a maritime task force.” While Hicks said an international response is coming, she didn’t give a timeline or describe it as task force.

Biden administration officials face a dilemma in striking back at the spate of attacks at sea. They have said they don’t want to be provoked into a broader Mideast war sought by Iran and its proxies, including the Houthis.

“The US has taken a defensive posture on this stuff and is trying to ensure that they don’t succeed in doing anything significant that would in fact force a response,” said Gerald Feierstein, a veteran diplomat and former US ambassador to Yemen who is now at the Middle East Institute. “The Houthis may very much want to push the situation and force the US to respond aggressively, because they think that that will burnish their status as a member in good standing of the axis of resistance.”

The issue has become urgent amid a spike in attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which handles about 12% of global trade. The effort to deter further Houthi attacks on shipping was among topics discussed by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Read more: US’s Sullivan Met with Saudi Crown Prince on Israel-Hamas War

In one of the Red Sea attacks, armed guards on a ship — the Ardmore Encounter — traded fire with attackers on a small boat, days after another fuel tanker called the Strinda, which was hired by Eni SpA and heading to Italy, was struck by a missile in the Red Sea earlier this week.

The Houthis said they targeted the vessel because it was destined for Israel, and port information shows it was due to go there early next year.

The Houthis are still holding a car carrier called the Galaxy Leader that they seized on Nov. 19. That ship is part-owned by a company of Israeli businessman Rami Ungar.

Earlier: Armed Guards on Tanker Exchange Fire With Boat Near Yemen

The US says an expanded military force in the region will help deter future Houthi attacks. But some Republican lawmakers have said the Biden administration has been too slow and cautious in striking back at the Houthis and other Iran-backed militants.

“The question is that I think Iran is looking at is, do we have the resolve?” Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said last week on CNN.

2 attacks launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels strike container ships in vital Red Sea corridor.

A ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels slammed into a cargo ship Friday in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel, authorities said.

The missile attack on the MSC Palatium III and the earlier assault on the Al Jasrah escalate a maritime campaign by the Iranian-backed Houthis. The attacks also endanger ships traveling through a vital corridor for cargo and energy shipments for both Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal out to the Indian Ocean.

The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country's war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.

“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in the (Red Sea) until they bring in the food and medicine that our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip need,” the Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said in a statement claiming responsibility for Friday's attacks.

The recent attacks led Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company, to announce Friday that it’s told all of its vessels planning to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to “pause their journey until further notice.” German-based shipper Hapag-Lloyd that was operating the Al Jasrah also said it was pausing all its container ship traffic through the Red Sea until Monday.

Meanwhile, hijackers, likely from Somalia, separately seized a Bulgarian ship in the Arabian Sea.

A U.S. defense official and the private intelligence firm Ambrey said the MSC Palatium III, a Liberian-flagged container ship, caught fire after the strike. It wasn't immediately clear if anyone on board the vessel had been hurt.

Two missiles were fired in the attack, likely trying to hit the Al Jasrah, the U.S. official said. One went wide and splashed down in the water, the other slammed into the Palatium, the official said.

The Palatium turned around after the attack and was now trying to head south, tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed.

The Switzerland-based MSC, or Mediterranean Shipping Co., earlier had another vessel, the MSC Alanya, warned by the Houthis around the Bab el-Mandeb, Ambrey said. “The parent company had cooperated with Israel, and this was likely the reason why she was threatened.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. MSC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the earlier Al Jasrah attack, it remained unclear if it was a missile or drone that hit the vessel, the official said. Ambrey and the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which monitors Mideast shipping lanes, also confirmed that attack.

“The projectile reportedly hit the port side of the vessel and one container fell overboard due to the impact,” Ambrey said. “The projectile caused a ‘fire on deck’ which was broadcast via” radio.

Shipper Hapag-Lloyd said no crew member had been hurt in the attack. It later announced that it was also pausing its ships through the Red Sea until Monday and “will decide for the period thereafter.”

Ambrey noted that Hapag-Lloyd “is known to have offices in the Israeli ports of Ashdod, Haifa and Tel Aviv.”

In his statement, military spokesman Saree claimed the Houthis targeted the Palatium III and the Alanya — not the Al Jasrah. It wasn't immediately clear why he erroneously identified the second ship.

The attacks Friday further escalate a campaign by the Houthi rebels, who have claimed responsibility for a series of missile assaults in recent days that just missed shipping in the Red Sea and its strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

On Thursday, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile that missed a container ship traveling through the strait.

The day before that, two missiles fired from Houthi-held territory missed a commercial tanker loaded with Indian-manufactured jet fuel near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Also near the strait, a missile fired by Houthis on Monday night slammed into a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea.

Global shipping has increasingly been targeted as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a wider regional conflict — even during a brief pause in fighting during which Hamas exchanged hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The collapse of the truce has raised the risk of more sea attacks.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is only 29 kilometers (18 miles) wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Nearly 10% of all oil traded at sea passes through it. An estimated $1 trillion in goods pass through the strait annually.

In November, Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea off Yemen. The rebels still hold the vessel near the port city of Hodeida. Separately, a container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean.

A separate, tentative cease-fire between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of Yemen’s exiled government has held for months despite that country’s long war. That’s raised concerns that any wider conflict in the sea — or a potential reprisal strike from Western forces — could reignite those tensions in the Arab world’s poorest nation.

Also Thursday, unknown attackers boarded the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Ruen, managed by Navigation Maritime Bulgare, in the Arabian Sea off the Yemeni island of Socotra, Ambrey and the UKMTO said. Bulgarian authorities said the ship’s 18-member crew hailed from Angola, Bulgaria and Myanmar.

“The necessary steps have been taken to pass the information on to all foreign partners and institutions that we will count on to provide assistance,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Maria Gabriel told reporters Friday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault. However, suspicion immediately fell on pirates from Somalia. Somali piracy had dropped in recent years, but there has been growing concern it could resume amid the wider chaos of the Houthi attacks and the political uncertainty gripping the east African nation.

On Friday, the UKMTO issued a warning to shippers saying the security manager for the Ruen “believes the crew no longer has control of the vessel” and that it is heading toward Somalia. The European Union’s anti-piracy force in the region said the Spanish frigate Victoria was on its way to intercept the “alleged pirate-hijacked vessel.”

Danish shipping company Maersk on Friday denied a claim by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement that the militia carried out a drone strike on a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.

The Houthis earlier claimed it carried out a military operation against a Maersk container vessel, directly hitting it with a drone. The Houthis, who made the claim in a statement, did not release any evidence.

Maersk on Thursday said ship Maersk Gibraltar was targeted by a missile while travelling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.

"The vessel was not hit," a Maersk spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement following the Houthi claim.

The incident took place near the Bad al-Mandab Strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, where Yemen's Houthis on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a Norwegian chemical tanker.

"The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Bad al-Mandab Strait are extremely concerning. The current situation puts seafarer lives at risk and is unsustainable for global trade," Maersk said earlier.

Houthi military spokesperson Yehia Sareea late on Thursday said the militia had hit the Maersk container vessel with a drone after it refused to respond the Yemeni group's warnings.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Houthis shot at the Maersk vessel but missed and were unsuccessful in forcing the ship to stop. The official added that U.S. forces were not in area at the time of the incident.

Later on Thursday, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that the attack, which it said was carried out by a ballistic missile, did not cause any injuries or damages.

"The M/V Maersk Gibraltar was hailed by the Houthis, who threatened further missile attacks," CENTCOM said on social media platform X. "While this incident did not involve US Forces, we continue to closely monitor the situation."

The Iran-aligned Houthis have attacked vessels in Red Sea shipping lanes and fired drones and missiles at Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza over two months ago, heightening fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel stops its offensive on the Gaza Strip.