Speaking at a forum on maritime resources in La Spezia, Crosetto said he had "decided, with the chief of defense staff, not to wait for Aspides to establish whether ships can pass or not." He added that Italy would "probably" act so that Italian ships can begin transiting without waiting for European bureaucracy to be added to Italy's own, arguing that delay in such cases means delaying the economy and aggravating problems.
The move is a political step aimed at speeding the restoration of navigation through the channel, which has come back into the crosshairs of Yemen's Houthis. It may also be read as a rebuke to EU representatives in the Commission, or even a break with the European mission in which Italy, like Greece, is the only member to have deployed its own frigate.
The Italian frigate Bergamini is currently docked in the port of Djibouti, with at least ten merchant ships flying the Italian flag or owned by Italian shipowners waiting on the horizon for permission to pass under escort. More than 1,200 ships a month still cross the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb since the start of the summer, an increase of 28 percent in vessels and 43 percent in tonnage compared with the summer of 2025, though traffic volumes remain 39 percent below pre-crisis levels. In recent days the average has been about 27 ships a day.
No departure time has been set for the Italian missile ship, but the announced operation is considered technically feasible. Because the frigate is Italian, it could lower the European flag of the Aspides mission and detach itself — temporarily only — from any directive of the operation for the time needed to escort Italian vessels that request protection.
Crosetto declined to specify how many military ships might be sent. "I am not deciding now how many military ships will be sent to guarantee navigation," he said. "This is a situation of these days; we will assess with the government and with parliament what will need to be done. The important thing is to restore traffic, so these are ships that, if we send them, we send them to protect merchant vessels."
The government's decision to possibly deploy another missile ship to Bab el-Mandeb — it would take about two weeks to reach the strait — would be more a political gesture than a necessary step, since the new missions decree would already permit the deployment. Nothing has been decided precisely because the situation could change shortly: the Houthis are reported to have guaranteed to the United States that they will target only Saudi naval vessels. It therefore cannot be excluded that EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas may issue new technical and political directives, although the final decision would rest with the current mission commander, Greek Admiral Gryparis.
The Bergamini remains in Djibouti, where minesweepers are also in port, awaiting a calming of the war winds on the Hormuz side. A contingent of about one hundred Italian military personnel is also present on land in the Horn of Africa. "Djibouti is not being touched right now by what the Houthis are doing," Crosetto reiterated. "What interests me is restoring the traffic of Italian ships through the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb."
The defense minister linked the operation to broader economic consequences. "When a maritime route is interrupted, goods arrive late, costs rise and prices grow for families and businesses," he said. "And every economic crisis hits the most fragile people hardest, putting social cohesion and the stability of the country at risk. Defending freedom of navigation also means defending the cables through which data, energy connections and essential infrastructure transit."