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Satellite image of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. / Reuters-Yonhap

Saudi Arabia has moved to establish a "multinational maritime defense coalition" to strengthen international maritime security, after Red Sea shipping came under threat from attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.

According to Reuters on the 30th (local time), the Saudi Defense Ministry discussed plans to form the multinational defense coalition at a related meeting held that day in the capital, Riyadh.

Delegations from 43 countries and the European Union (EU) attended the meeting, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead role as the founding country and host of the coalition's headquarters.

The Defense Ministry said the coalition's goals include strengthening maritime security in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait; defending freedom of navigation; securing international trade routes and energy supply lines; and protecting shared maritime interests.

Fourteen of the attending countries expressed support for the coalition initiative and their intent to join in a joint statement: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Turkey, and Yemen.

Among the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were not included on the list of supporting countries.

Oman is currently discussing a plan with Iran to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz, while the UAE withdrew from OPEC amid a dispute with Saudi Arabia over crude oil production allocations.

Saudi Arabia said it would keep the door open at any time to countries wishing to join the coalition.

Meanwhile, the coalition initiative comes in response to the Houthi rebels' declaration of a "maritime blockade" against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea on the 20th and subsequent attacks on Saudi vessels. Saudi Arabia responded with airstrikes on Houthi military facilities in Hodeidah, Yemen.

The Red Sea, along with the Strait of Hormuz, is a key chokepoint for global energy and trade transport, and international tensions are rising as the front line of the U.S.-Iran war spreads beyond the Gulf into the Red Sea.

                                                                                                            Park Jin-sook