The ships cannot wait for European bureaucracy : Italy is ready to decide autonomously to escort our country's merchant ships in the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb in the Red Sea , once again in the sights of the Houthis of Yemen .
In a political move aimed at speeding up the restoration of navigation in that channel, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto announces that he has "decided, with the Chief of Staff, not to wait for Aspides to decide whether the ships can pass or not" .
Then the Defense Minister announced at the Sea Resources forum in La Spezia: " We will likely take action so that Italian ships can begin passing through without waiting for European bureaucracy to add to our own, because delaying things in cases like this means delaying the economy and making problems worse."
This acceleration could be interpreted as a dressing down for the EU representatives in the Commission , if not a break with the EU mission in which Italy, like Greece, is the only country to have deployed its own frigate. Crosetto then instructed the Defense Department to "conduct a careful assessment of the operational and security situation in the Red Sea, in full coordination, and prepare a plan to ensure free transit through the Strait."
The frigate Bergamini is currently docked in the port of Djibouti, but it faces at least a dozen Italian-flagged or Italian-owned merchant ships requesting passage under escort . Since the beginning of the summer, over 1,200 ships have continued to pass through the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb each month , representing a 28% increase in the number of vessels and a 43% increase in tonnage compared to the summer of 2025, but with traffic volumes 39% below pre-crisis levels. In recent days, the number of ships has averaged 27 per day.
The timing of the Italian missile ship's departure has not yet been determined, but the announced operation is considered technically feasible: the frigate is Italian and, by lowering the European flag of the Aspides mission, it would be able to temporarily withdraw from any operational directives while escorting any Italian ships that so request.
In particular, the government's decision to potentially deploy another missile ship to Bebel el-Mandeb (it would take about two weeks to reach the strait) would represent more than a necessary step, a political gesture, given that the new mission decree already allows for such deployment. The minister, however, has asked to "verify whether the current legal framework allows, if necessary, the recall under national command of Italian Armed Forces capabilities already present in the area and currently deployed in other operations, or whether a new and specific authorization from Parliament is necessary, also by virtue of the decisions already adopted by some allied and partner countries."
(Unioneonline)