NOURNEWS- Yemen’s defense minister has denounced the formation of a US-led maritime task force in the Red Sea to protect the passage of merchant vessels bound for the Israeli-occupied territories, cautioning the Western alliance that any assault on Yemeni soil will have dire consequences.

“We are in possession of munitions and military gear that can sink your warships, submarines and aircraft carriers,” Major General Mohammad al-Atifi said on Monday.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces will turn the Red Sea into a graveyard of the US-led coalition if the alliance decides to take any action against Yemen,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin announced the formation of the coalition – including Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, Spain, and the UK – to patrol the Red Sea in response to Yemeni strikes on ships bound for the Israeli-occupied territories, which came in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime’s war on the Gaza Strip.

Ansarullah vows to confront US-led coalition

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement has pledged to confront the US-led coalition, stressing that Washington will experience both military and prestige defeats if it attacks Yemen.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces have painful options, which they will employ in response to any act of aggression against their homeland. We only target ships that are either Israeli-owned or heading towards Israeli ports,” said Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah’s political bureau.

Bukhaiti stressed that Yemen stands fairly committed to safe navigation at sea, adding, “We are only acting against the interests of the Zionist regime. We will confront any coalition that Washington establishes in the Red Sea.”

The senior Yemeni official noted that negotiations are underway through intermediaries with a number of countries, including the United States, to persuade Yemeni forces to stop their retaliatory operations.

BP halts oil, gas shipments through Red Sea

Furthermore, the British oil and gas giant has halted all shipments of energy through the Red Sea after an increase in attacks on Israel-bound ships by the Yemeni Armed Forces in Yemen, including two further strikes on Monday.

BP said it had paused shipping in the region indefinitely, citing a “deteriorating security situation” amid tensions in the aftermath of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.

The Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7.

The relentless Israeli strikes against Gaza have killed at least 19,453 people, most of them women and children, in Gaza. Another 52,286 individuals have been wounded as well.

Reports revealed that Israeli shipping companies have already decided to reroute their vessels in fear of attacks by Yemeni forces.

The Yemeni forces have also launched missile and drone attacks on targets in the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine after the occupying regime’s aggression on Gaza.