Originally Posted by
ORAC
Reuters reports that Chinese officials have asked Iran to 'rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Houthis or risk harming business relations with Beijing'
I saw a similar article this morning.
Chinese officials have told their Iranian counterparts to intervene in the Houthi rebel group's ongoing attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea—or risk losing a crucial trade partner, Reuters said on Friday, in the first known report of direct discussions about the subject.
I would be interested to see if Iran answers back
"Improve your treatment of Xinjiang province Uyghurs and we might agree to that"
(They probably won't, but who knows?)
Saw another article that pointed out how useless the USN's LCS ships are. They make up about one fifth of the surface fleet (by hull count) but are more or less not fit for purpose: just as many of us pointed out 20 years ago when that program went live. (For my money, they all ought to be either buried, like the Aussie NH-90, or sold/gifted to various coast guards around the world at a deep discount).
They can't be used in an op like the Red Sea op currently underway.
Why?
They can't knock a missile out of the sky. (Though they do have a nominal self defense capability).
Some of them can embark a helicopter, but for this case that's not much help.