Every missile shot by the Royal Navy Type 45 air defence destroyer HMS Diamond at Houthi rebels to defend vessels in the Red Sea costs between £1million and £2million.
The HMS Diamond, described by the Royal Navy as a “jewel in the naval crown”, destroyed drones, missiles and rockets launched by the Yemenite group with guns and Sea Viper missiles overnight between January 9 and 10, according to UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.
According to the politician, this operation, jointly carried out with US naval forces, marked a pushback against the largest attack to date by the Houthis.
The carrier-based jets and warships reportedly shot down in total 21 drones and missiles launched by the group militarily and economically supported by Iran.
While each Sea Viper missile comes at a six-figure cost, the one-way attack drones the Houthis are believed to have fired cost far less. The definite price for each Iranian Shaheed 136 drone and its variants isn’t known, but the sum of £15,700 ($20,000) is frequently cited when discussing them.
Britain has been taking part in the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian over the past few weeks in a bid to grant the safe passage of commercial cargo through the Red Sea.
The area, one of the most important trade routes in the world, has been under the threat of the Houthis since mid-November, when they declared they would target Israeli-affiliate ships in a bid to pressure Tel Aviv to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas terrorists.
Over the past weeks, the Houthis have targeted also vessels not linked to Israel and have seized one cargo and its crewmembers.
The barrage of Houthi missiles, drones and rockets fired at a US ship in the Red Sea overnight has prompted Britain to warn the rebel group of severe consequences, and further escalated fears of a wider regional war in the Middle East.
Asked about the possibility of Western strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, Mr Shapps replied: “I can’t go into details but can say the joint statement we issued set out a very clear path that if this doesn’t stop then action will be taken. So, I’m afraid the simplest thing to say [is] ‘watch this space’.”
He also said to have “no doubt” Iran was heavily behind these attacks in the Red Sea.
Mr Shapps referred to a statement issued a week ago by the UK, US, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore about the Operation Prosperity Guardian they are taking part in.
In it, they said the attacks posed “a direct threat to the freedom of navigation that serves as the bedrock of global trade in one of the world’s most critical waterways”.
The UK and its allies, Mr Shapps said in a separate statement, had “previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences”.
The Houthis said to have targeted the American vessel in retaliation for the killing of rebels who tried to attack a container ship by using speed boats last month.
Confirming the rebel group had carried out an operation involving a “large number of ballisting and naval missiles and drones”, Houthi military spokesman Yahya al-Sarea said: “It targeted a US ship that was providing support for the Zionist entity [Israel]. The operation came as an initial response to the treacherous assault on our naval forces by the US enemy forces.”
He also reiterated the Houthis will continue to try and “prevent Israeli ships or ships heading towards occupied Palestine from navigating in both the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until the [Israeli] aggression [on Gaza] has come to an end and the blockade has been lifted”.
