The defence secretary says the Royal Navy air defence destroyer HMS Diamond and US naval forces have destroyed "multiple attack drones" deployed by Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea. Grant Shapps adds "we cannot have a situation where a major sea route is being cut off by terrorists and thugs". Report by Brooksl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 Well, last night HMS Diamond, amongst a number of other US ships, were involved in shooting
00:05 down a whole barrage of missiles and drones. HMS Diamond itself shot down seven drones.
00:12 Remember, this is not usual. It was over three decades until a couple of weeks ago that the
00:17 Royal Navy had not fired anything down in anger. And we cannot have a situation where
00:23 a major sea route, a major ability to move goods around the world is being cut off by
00:30 terrorists and thugs and we therefore must act.
00:33 Well, we do know that Iran is behind so much of, I'm afraid, the bad things that are happening
00:37 in that region. And there have been reports, I've seen them on social media as well, about
00:42 how Iran are providing effectively the eyes and the ears, the radar systems through ships
00:47 and other things, and certainly the equipment to the Houthis who are using it to attack
00:51 shipping. So we call on Tehran, but also directly on the Houthis, this absolutely must stop.
00:58 There will be consequences if it doesn't. And they have, I'm afraid, failed to heed
01:05 the warnings issued on the 3rd of January. We seem to see a drop-off after that by a
01:11 number of different countries, including the UK and the US, for them to stop and cease
01:15 this action. But I'm afraid last night proved they really are not listening.
01:20 Well, we definitely don't have to deal in hearsay to know that Iran has been supplying
01:25 drones to Russia. The Shahad drone has been used extensively by Russia in Ukraine, supplied
01:32 by Iran. They're doubtless always looking to upgrade and change it to improve its effectiveness
01:38 as they would see it. Again, Iran, a malign actor, creating problems in the world. We
01:45 call on them to cease this action. And just from a Western, a British government point
01:49 of view, I can say with no hesitation whatsoever, we absolutely, resolutely stand behind Ukraine.
01:58 It is an impossibility for Putin to win that battle.
02:01 Well, we saw this huge attack last night by the Houthi militants. But be in no doubt at
02:05 all, Iran is guiding what is happening there in the Red Sea, providing them not just with
02:11 equipment to carry out those attacks, but also often with the eyes and ears to allow
02:16 those attacks to happen. Enough is enough as far as we're concerned. That is an international
02:22 waterway. It is meant to be the case that everybody has the right to traffic through
02:27 it. And it must be the case that that is maintained.
02:29 Well, our concern is directly with where these attacks are coming from. And so that is the
02:34 Houthis who are, as you know, stationed in Yemen and carrying out attacks from Yemen
02:39 itself. So we have called on the Houthis to stop, cease and desist. That must now happen.