An "export-driven" country, Italy has "a duty" to safeguard merchant shipping in the key Red Sea waterway - where Iran-backed Houthi militants have been staging missile and drone attacks from Yemen since October - according to foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
"We have a duty protect merchant traffic in the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal...we are an export-driven country, 40 percent of our GDP comes from exports," Tajani told reporters during a visit to Sarajevo.
Italy's destroyer Caio Duilio is doing "excellent" work in region, Tajani said.
On Sunday the destroyer "shot down a drone that came from Yemen launched by the Houthis," Tajani stated.
The upper and lower houses of parliament are set on Tuesday to approve Italy's participation in the new European Union 'Aspides' mission in the Red Sea region (which Italy will command), Tajani said.
Caio Duilio is in the Red Sea as part of Italian maritime surveillance operatations which began in December.
The Houthis say their attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea are to avenge Israel's devastating war against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, which it launched after Hamas' deadly cross-border attack on 7 October.
