The Italian Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, criticizes the Spanish position regarding the Red Sea crisis in an interview published today by the Turin newspaper La Stampa.
Crosetto, belonging to the most pragmatic wing of the Brothers of Italy, considers that the president of the Spanish Government “puts his pacts before international security” and predicts that sooner or later the Spanish position will change because the ports of the Peninsula, particularly those of the Mediterranean, are also being affected by this crisis that will have economic costs.
Crosetto announces in this interview that Italy will send ships from its navy to join the coalition against the Houthis, although he points out that this deployment will not be able to participate in the bombing unless there is an international resolution or a demand from an allied country.
Furthermore, Crosetto emphasizes that the conflict in the Red Sea is part of a global trade war to the extent that Chinese and Russian ships do not suffer the harassment that ships from Western shipping companies have suffered. “It is a classic example of hybrid warfare.”
As the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, stated in her appearance this week in Congress, Spain will not participate in Áspide, the future European military operation to guarantee the transit of merchant ships through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
