Expanded US-Led Naval Task Force To Protect Red Sea Shipping

Handout photo dated March 16, 2013 shows seaman Victoria Bastian, assigned to guided-missile cruiser USS Hue City (CG 66), stands watch on the ship's port bridge wing while transiting the Suez Canal. The Pentagon has convinced more than a half dozen allies to join a strengthened naval task force in the Red Sea amid mounting attacks by Iran-backed rebels on commercial shipping that have driven oil prices higher. More than 9mn barrels a day of oil shipments, or almost a tenth of global demand, pass through the Red Sea, making it one of the world’s busiest energy chokepoints. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Matthew R. Cole via ABACAPRESS.COM