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

Handout photo dated January 30, 2023 shows the guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG 103) transits the Suez Canal, January 30, 2023. Truxtun is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to help ensure maritime security and stability in the Middle East region. 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 1st Class Kenneth Blair via ABACAPRESS.COM