Explosives-laden small boats could target cargo ships in Red Sea, warns Saudi

Saudi Arabia on Friday warned that explosives-laden high speed remote controlled small boats could target cargo ships and oil tankers passing through the busy and sensitive Red Sea maritime route.

The remarks by a Saudi defence ministry spokesman came at a time when the Persian Gulf region has witnessed a number of damaging attacks against the cargo ships.

"Explosives-laden high speed remote controlled small boats could target cargo ships and oil tankers passing through the Red Sea," the spokesman said, indicating that the Iranian-backed Houthis were behind such attacks.

The Bab-El-Mandab, located off the coast of Yemen, is a narrow strait that leads northwards into the Red sea further on to Suez Canal and to the Mediterranean sea. The region has seen some of the bloodiest battles in recent years between Saudi-led coalition forces and the Houthis.

It is one of the busiest trading sea routes. India's most of the maritime trade with Europe and the US is carried out through the Suez Canal.

Saudi Arabia, which is a part of the US-led combined task force that patrols the sea in the region, has claimed that Houthis were behind several attacks on commercial vessels of separate countries in the region.

"The Saudi Navy has intercepted a couple of such boats rigged with explosives and also mines in the Red sea close to its west coast," the spokesman told a group of journalist here.

He showed video clips and images of captured small boats to the media delegation.

Since 2008, the Indian naval warships have been patrolling the waters south of Yemen to escort cargo ships entering and exiting the Red sea.

India and Saudi Arabia will conduct their first-ever joint naval exercise in the first week of March as part of their maritime cooperation.

The Gulf Kingdom wants to deepen its maritime cooperation with India in the western Indian Ocean, which constitutes sensitive shipping routes such as the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf.

A series of damaging drone and missile attacks on oil facilities of Saudi Aramco, the country's national petroleum company, in Abqaiq and Khurais in the Persian Gulf on September 14 drove oil prices to their highest level in nearly four months.

The attack had knocked out over half of Saudi Arabia's production as it cut 5.7 million barrels per day or over 5 per cent of the world's supply.

India had condemned the attacks and reiterated its resolve to oppose terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Saudi Arabia, which is conducting an investigation into attacks on the Aramco facilities, said that they were launched from another country, in an apparent reference to Iran.

The spokesman said the Kingdom has raised the matter at the United Nations and very soon the technical analysis will be completed about the attacks launched north-south direction.

The official also showed parts of drones used in the attacks.

Tensions have been brewing between Tehran and Riyadh since the missile attacks on Saudi oil facilities last month. Both Saudi Arabia and the US have blamed Iran for the drone strikes, claimed by the Houthi rebels. However, Tehran has strongly rebutted the charges.