Yemen's Houthis militia, who have disrupted merchant shipping in the key Red Sea trade route since October with "illegal" missile and drone attacks, are "dangerous" and "are a terrorist organisation", Italy underlined on Thursday.
"In the Red Sea, unfortunately, the situation is complicated: that is why we wanted and obtained a European mission to protect merchant ships crossing (the) Suez (canal) and the Red Sea," said Tajani.
"We know the (Iran-backed) Houthis are dangersou: they are violating international law. They are a terrorist organization," he said at the conservative European People's Party congress in Bucharest, Romania.
The European Union's new Italian-led 'Aspides' mission to shield cargo ships in the Red Sea region will react in case of an attack, as it did when it downed a Houthi drone heading for the Caio Duilio destroyer (on Saturday), Tajani said.
Italy is taking on the operational command of 'Aspides' "to defend with force the Italian and European merchant ships that transit the area," Tajani stated.
The Houthis say their attacks are in support of the Palestinians in the five-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
