Britain could send an aircraft carrier to the Red Sea to counter the threat of Iran-backed militias.
Armed Forces minister James Heappey said either the HMS Queen Elizabeth or the HMS Prince of Wales could replace the USS Dwight D Eisenhower when it returns to the US.
Mohamed al-Atifi, the commander of the Houthi forces, said the group was prepared for a long conflict over the Red Sea, where it has launched dozens of drone and missile attacks against commercial and naval ships since November.
Mr Heappey told The House magazine: “The Eisenhower can’t stay there forever, and so there’s a thing about just maintaining a carrier presence in the region where we might cooperate with the Americans to provide a capability there.”
He said Royal Navy carriers could be used “when the Eisenhower goes home… if we were needed to plug a gap in US deployments”.
This is a breaking story. More to follow.
