Israel’s airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities early Friday morning have prompted the U.K. and Greece to advise their merchant shipping fleets on taking a more cautious approach to sailing certain trade bottlenecks in the Middle East.
According to a report from Reuters sharing information from the U.K.’s Department for Transport, all U.K.-flagged vessels, which include ships registered under the flags of Gibraltar and Bermuda, were advised to avoid sailing through the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
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If transiting these areas, vessels must adhere to their highest level of security measures and limit the number of crew on deck during transits, said the advisory.
The Union of Greek Shipowners, which represent more than 60 percent of the E.U. controlled merchant fleet, urged shipowners to send details of their vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz to Greece’s maritime ministry, Reuters said. The Strait of Hormuz flows into the Persian Gulf, with roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil supply passing through, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The pre-emptive airstrikes bring speculation as to the immediate future of Red Sea shipping, particularly since the Iran-aligned Houthi militant group responsible for attacks in the waterway have been in direct conflict with Israel in recent months.
Ahead of Friday’s attacks, the Yemen-based Houthis had warned both Israel and the U.S. that any escalation against Iran would “drag the entire region into the abyss of war.” The militants had conducted drone and missile attacks on commercial vessels traveling through the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait starting in late 2023, which lasted throughout 2024.
The U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization said it began the attacks in support of Palestinians in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
Overall, the Houthis conducted more than 130 attacks on commercial vessels in that time frame, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a crisis monitoring organization.
The onslaught resulted in container shipping firms mostly abandoning the Suez Canal, instead committing to rerouting their ships around southern Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. The mass diversions lengthened East-to-West ocean shipping times by roughly one-to-two weeks.
Although the Houthis have not conducted any attacks in the Red Sea in 2025, most of the major ocean carriers have refused to return to the trade artery due to a lack of safety guarantees.
A circular shared by maritime security firm Ambrey early Friday said there was no impact to shipping at the time of the report. The firm warned of heightened risk to Israel-affiliated shipping in the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, similar to a warning sent out by the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) office of the Royal Navy ahead of the Israeli airstrikes.
For safety precautions, Ambrey recommended thorough affiliation checks for vessels planning to transit through the affected regions. Vessels with strong affiliations to Israel are advised to avoid these areas where possible.
Protests hit Maersk NYC office over Israel ties
With tensions continuing to escalate in the Middle East amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, roughly 200 protesters occupied the lobby of Maersk’s Manhattan headquarters on Wednesday morning.
The demonstration occurred in protest of the container shipping giant’s transport of military equipment to Israel, namely the reported shipping of F-35 fighter jet parts.
Maersk has stated that while it carries military equipment to Israel, it does not transport weapons or ammunition to the area, or any other conflict zones.
Earlier this year, the company’s shareholders voted against a proposal to halt shipments of arms to Israel on the grounds that premise of the proposal was incorrect.
Members of the protesting group, which was organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement and Jewish Voice for Peace, refused to move from the lobby and chanted phrases like “Maersk, Maersk, drop the cargo, we demand an arms embargo.” The demonstrators also demanded that more food and aid be sent to Gaza.
Members of the NYPD’s strategic response group moved in after about an hour and cuffed protesters. At least 50 had been taken into custody by the time the protest ended.
The Manhattan demonstration follows a series of protests in major cities like Copenhagen, Paris and Berlin.
Last month, more than 50 activists including Greta Thunberg held a demonstration in the Copenhagen office of Maersk’s tankers division in protest of the equipment shipments, as well as the carrier’s overall carbon emissions.
Thunberg and a group of other activists on a Gaza-bound flotilla were later detained by Israeli officials after attempting to bring food and humanitarian aid to the region. The detainees were brought to Israel before they returned to their home countries.
