Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We are willing to take direct action, and we won’t hesitate to take further action to deter threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” Al Jazeera reports.

“The Houthis should be under no misunderstanding: we are committed to holding malign actors accountable for unlawful seizures and attacks,” he said.

Earlier on Sunday, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he told Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a call that Iran should help stop the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.