A Saudi-proposed multinational maritime security coalition could expand the GCC’s role in protecting the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab and Gulf of Aden, Kuwait Times reported. The initiative was discussed by representatives from 43 countries, with 14 said to have endorsed it, but it had not been formally launched at the time of publication. The report describes a defensive partnership with a planned command structure in Riyadh and does not present it as a completed alliance.