A missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden killed two of its crew members and forced survivors to abandon the vessel on Wednesday, authorities said, the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the group over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack on the Barbados-flagged bulk carrier True Confidence further escalates the conflict on a crucial maritime route linking Asia and the Middle East to Europe that has disrupted global shipping. The Iranian-backed Houthis have launched attacks since November, and the U.S. began an airstrike campaign in January that so far hasn’t halted the rebels’ attacks.
The attack Wednesday on the True Confidence came after it had been hailed over radio by individuals claiming to be the Yemeni military, officials said. The Houthis have been hailing ships over the radio in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since launching their attacks, with analysts suspecting the rebels want to seize the vessels.
Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as they didn’t have authorization to speak publicly, said that the anti-ship ballistic missile attack killed two of the crew members on board and wounded six others. The full extent of the damage to the Liberian-owned ship remained unclear, but the crew abandoned the ship and deployed lifeboats.
The Houthis didn’t immediately claim the attack, though it typically takes several hours for them to acknowledge an assault.
It was unclear why the Houthis would target the True Confidence. However, it had previously been owned by Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based fund that finances vessels on installments. Oaktree declined to comment.
Airstrikes not yet deterring attacks
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo bound for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, and an aid ship later bound for Houthi-controlled territory.
Despite more than a month and a half of U.S.-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels have remained capable of launching significant attacks. They include the attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which sank on Saturday after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
A separate Houthi assault Tuesday apparently targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the American campaign against the rebels.
The Houthi attack on the Carney on Tuesday involved bomb-carrying drones and one anti-ship ballistic missile, the U.S. military’s Central Command said.
The U.S. later launched an airstrike destroying three anti-ship missiles and three bomb-carrying drone boats, the Central Command said.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, acknowledged that attack, but claimed its forces targeted two American warships, without elaborating.
The Houthis “will not stop until the aggression is stopped and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” Saree said.
Saree did not acknowledge the later U.S. airstrikes. The Houthis haven’t offered any assessment of the damage they’ve suffered in the American-led strikes that began in January, though they’ve said at least 22 of their fighters have been killed.
Iran seizes oil cargo
Meanwhile, Iran announced Wednesday that it would confiscate a $50 million US cargo of Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron Corp. aboard a tanker it seized nearly a year earlier. It marks the latest twist in a yearslong shadow war playing out in the Middle East’s waterways even before the Houthi attacks began.
Iran announced the seizure of the crude aboard the Advantage Sweet through the judiciary’s state-run Mizan news agency.
The Advantage Sweet had been in the Persian Gulf in late April, but its track showed no unusual behaviour as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of all traded oil passes. Iran has made allegations in other seizures that later fell apart as it became clear Tehran was trying to leverage the capture as a chip to negotiate with foreign nations.
Chevron, based in San Ramon, Calif., said Wednesday that the Advantage Sweet had been “seized under false pretenses” and that the company “has not had any direct communication with Iran over the seizure of the vessel.”
“Chevron has not been permitted access to the vessel and considers the cargo a total loss due to Iran’s illegal actions,” Chevron said in a statement. “We now consider the cargo the responsibility of the Iranian government.”
Ship seizures and explosions have roiled the region since 2019. The incidents began after president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
The U.S. Navy also has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021. Tehran denies carrying out the attacks.
