Dutch Cargo ship attached – update 2 – Netherlands asks EU to designate Houthis as terrorist group

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Recently on 29th Sept’ 2025, the cargo ship Minervagracht was attacked in Gulf of Aden by missiles and later the responsibility was claimed by the Houthi group, we mentioned the detail in our earlier post.

Now Netherlands has raised a request to the European Union to designate Houthi (Ansar Allah) as terrorist.

Cargo  vessel - Minervagracht, operated by Amsterdam-based Spliethoff , the ship was damaged in attack and 2 out of 19 crew members  were also attacked who has to lifted by air support later.

Current status – The vessel is still on Gulf of Aden ,berthed at port near Djibouti at a Support base of China’s People Liberation Army, the fire is yet not extinguished completely and the ship is ablaze.

Actions taken by Netherlands-

Netherland Foreign minister, David Martijn van Weel has taken this up with EU and has asked to put additional sanctions and put the Houthi group in Terrorist list.

He has also urged EU nations to have strong maritime presence globally (Operation Aspides) to have a safer maritime navigation of ships.

can be influential in this case as has served Dutch Navy and was a former Naval officer and has one of best experience in terms of maritime and political alignment. He also became Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Cyber defence and Hybrid threats of NATO, under Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg In 2020.

What comes next

EU evaluation and decision on declaring Houthis as terrorist group

• Imposing sanctions on different activities like - prohibitions on financial transactions, freezing of assets, travel bans on leaders, and restrictions on goods.

• Operational/Maritime response: Enhanced naval patrols, increased surveillance, cooperation among EU and allied navies in the region, possibly more protection for commercial shipping.

• European Union launched a naval group called Operation Aspides in Feb 2024 which will be more defensive and aggressive from now

• Rise of retaliatory actions from both sides – EU and Houthis

  
  

The incident of attack on Minervagracht vessel, as raised a concern again on the security of ships while navigating