On Thursday, the United States Department of Defense announced that more than twenty nations have consented to participate in the project as new governments join it to defend commercial shipping in the Red Sea from attacks by the Houthi movement in Yemen.

Nevertheless, the latest figure from the Pentagon would imply that at least eight nations that have signed up have also declined to be publicly named. This is a sign of the political sensitivity of the operation, which comes at a time when tensions in the area are rising as a result of the confrontation between Israel and Hamas.

“We’ve had over 20 nations sign on to participate,” Major General Patrick Ryder stated, noting that Greece and Australia have also announced their intention to participate.

“We’ll allow other countries, defer to them to talk about their participation.”

It has been two days since the United States announced the commencement of Operation Prosperity Guardian. The United States claims that more than a dozen nations have agreed to take part in the operation, which would entail cooperative patrols in the seas of the Red Sea near Yemen.

According to Ryder, each nation will give whatever they can, and he referred to it as a “coalition of the willing.”

There are various instances in which vessels will be involved. “In other instances, it might involve staff or other forms of support,” he stated during a press briefing.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist party that is in control of Gaza, has resulted in the situation that is currently occurring in the Red Sea.

The battle started on October 7 when Hamas members poured across the Gaza border into southern Israel. According to Israeli authorities, the terrorists murdered around 1,200 people, the majority of whom were civilian Israelis and foreigners.

Health professionals in the densely populated coastal enclave of Gaza have reported that almost 20,000 Palestinians have been murdered as a result of Israel’s retaliatory shelling and invasion of Gaza. Israeli officials have stated that the invasion and bombardment are intended to eradicate Hamas.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Iranian proxies, such as the Houthis and those affiliated with Hezbollah in Lebanon, have launched rockets into Israel. In the meantime, the Houthis have increased their number of strikes in the Red Sea. They have threatened to attack any ships that are en route to Israel and have issued a warning to shipping businesses to avoid interacting with Israeli ports.

The assaults have significantly disrupted a vital commerce route connecting Europe and North America with Asia through the Suez Canal. As a result, container shipping rates have skyrocketed because businesses are attempting to ship their products through other routes that are frequently longer.

The United States Navy, the British Navy, and the French Navy have all responded by shooting down Houthi drones and missiles. However, some critics in Washington argue that these defensive operations do not go far enough to dissuade the Houthis from continuing their attacks.

According to the Iranian Students News Agency, Iran announced Thursday that it will remove visa restrictions for 33 countries. These nations include Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, with whom Tehran had strained ties for many years before a recent thaw.

“The ministry of tourism believes that an open-door policy will showcase Iran’s determination to engage with different countries of the world,” the semi-official Iranian news agency stated.

According to the statement, the decision would mean that the number of nations or territories whose people are permitted to visit Iran without the need to get a visa will climb to 45.

After years of animosity between the two oil-producing Gulf rivals, this decision is another step toward healing ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia (after years of tension between the two Gulf rivals).

Over the last ten years, Riyadh and Tehran have sided with opposing factions in the battles that have taken place in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Recent years have seen several attacks against Saudi oil infrastructure, which Western authorities have blamed on Iran and its Arab proxy forces. These attacks have posed the danger of further escalating the regional conflict in the Middle East. In response, Iran denied any role in such assaults.

Under an agreement China negotiated in March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to resume full diplomatic relations, which had been cut in 2016.

Bahrain, with which Tehran has not yet re-established full ties, is also included in the decision to waive visa restrictions. Saudi Arabian nationals, United Arab Emirates nationals, and Qatari nationals are all included in the decision.

Among the countries included on the comprehensive list that ISNA provided were Lebanon, Tunisia, India, and several Central Asian, African, and “Muslim” states. Croatia, a relatively tiny member of the European Union and NATO was the only Western-allied European republic included on the list.

This visa exemption will only benefit Russian citizens traveling to the nation in groups, according to ISNA’s further statement.

Before his declaration, citizens of the Sultanate of Oman were permitted to go to Iran without a visa.

Iranian media announced on Wednesday that Iranian pilgrims will restart regular travel to Saudi Arabia on December 19, marking the first time they will commence such travel in eight years.

In advance of a postponed decision on Friday by the United Nations Security Council on a demand for an urgent humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas war, the United States, which possesses the right to veto, informed the 15-member council that it does not support demands for such a step.

“This would only plant the seeds for the next war—because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace,” Deputy United States Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood told the council, which was meeting to be informed by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. It was a meeting to discuss the situation.

A vote on a resolution that the United Arab Emirates wrote was postponed for several hours until 5:30 p.m. (2230 GMT). This is only a few hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the United States of America meets in Washington with ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority, and Turkey.

“Today this council will vote, and it will have the opportunity to respond to the deafening calls across the world to bring this violence to an end,” Mohamed Abushahab, the Deputy United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the United Nations, said to the council.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, told reporters in Washington that if the Security Council does not accept the resolution, “it is giving Israel a license to continue with its massacre of Palestinians in Gaza.” Safadi made this statement by the statement that he made.

The draft resolution not only calls for an immediate truce in the humanitarian sector, but it also states that the civilian populations of both Israel and Palestine must be safeguarded. Furthermore, it requires all captives’ immediate and unconditional release and access to humanitarian organizations.

“DEPART FROM ALL effort.”
The United States of America has made many attempts to get the council to condemn an attack that Hamas carried out on October 7. Israel claims that during this incident, 1,200 people were murdered, and 240 others were held prisoner. Wood referred to the council’s delay in action as a “serious moral failure.”

The Israeli government has chosen to concentrate its vengeance against Hamas in Gaza by starting a ground invasion, establishing a blockade, and attacking the territory from the air. According to the Health Ministry of Gaza, there have been more than 17,480 deaths during this conflict. The great majority of Gaza’s population, which is estimated to be 2.3 million, has been forced to flee their homes.

It is necessary for a resolution to receive at least nine votes in favor and to avoid vetoes from the permanent members of the council, who are the United States of America, Russia, China, France, and Britain. The council requested a break in the fighting a month ago to allow relief to enter Gaza. This request came after repeated unsuccessful attempts to take action.

“I urge the council to spare no effort to push for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, for the protection of civilians, and for the urgent delivery of lifesaving aid,” Guterres said during a press conference.

Guterres took an unusual action by publicly alerting the body to the war’s global threat on Wednesday. Guterres has been advocating for a humanitarian ceasefire for a considerable time.

According to statements made by Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, on Friday, the Security Council was informed that Hamas had violated a ceasefire on October 7.

“The irony is that regional stability and the security of both Israelis and Gazans can only be achieved once Hamas is eliminated, not one minute before,” Erdan told reporters. “So the true path to ensuring peace is only through supporting Israel’s mission—not calling for a ceasefire.”