Britain “needed to act” against the Houthis, Grant Shapps has said, after the UK and US launched strikes on the Iran-backed group last week.

The attacks on a string of targets inside Yemen were in response to the Iran-backed rebels targeting of shipping in the Red Sea.

The Defence Secretary told the BBC that “freedom of navigation … must be protected”, hours after the US said it had shot down a Houthi missile fired at one of its warships in the region.

The missile was fired on Sunday toward the USS Labnoon, which was operating in the southern Red Sea, and downed by US fighter jets near the port city of Hudaydah, on Yemen’s west coast. 

Asked whether the UK will launch fresh military action, Mr Shapps said: “I rather hope we don’t need to”.

“Let’s wait and see what happens, because it’s not that we want to be involved in action in the Red Sea. But ultimately freedom of navigation is an international right that must be protected,” he added.

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