The British armed forces minister, James Heappey, has said the UK’s overnight military strikes on targets in Yemen were justified, Al Jazeera reports.

“Our action and the action of the Americans last night was in self-defence in order to defend against further attacks on our warships as they go about their legal and reasonable business,” he told Times Radio.

Earlier, the UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps had said the “threat to innocent lives and global trade” had become so great that London felt it was its “duty” to safeguard ships and freedom of navigation.