Houthi Attack Kills Six in Red Sea; US Disables Ship Near Iran

A Houthi attack on a cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb strait has killed four crew members and two Yemeni rescuers, according to Yemeni authorities. The incident marks the first confirmed fatalities from a Houthi strike on shipping since the conflict with Iran began in late February.

The vessel, identified as the Egyptian-owned Tihamah, was hit while at anchor northeast of Perim Island. Yemen's transport ministry said the crew lost control of the ship after the attack. Three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian were among the dead. The Yemeni Coast Guard reported that two rescuers from the anti-Houthi National Resistance Forces were killed when the Houthis struck again after rescue crews had arrived. Ten people were injured in total.

The Houthis claimed they attacked a ship carrying Saudi military equipment in the strait, though they did not name the vessel. The Saudi Center for International Communication did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The British navy-affiliated UK Maritime Trade Operations confirmed one incident in the strait, reporting that a ship was hit by an unknown projectile.

In a separate development, the U.S. military said it fired two Hellfire missiles at the Panama-flagged container ship Vela Nova in the Gulf of Oman, disabling its steering gear. U.S. Central Command stated the vessel ignored repeated warnings to stop violating a naval blockade on Iranian ports. This is the 12th vessel attacked by U.S. forces since the blockade was announced in April and the third since it was reimposed in mid-July.

The Vela Nova had recently made port calls in Mumbai and Port Klang, Malaysia, where Iran-linked ships have also been spotted, according to a senior advisor at U.S. advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran. The ship was believed to have been hit approximately 71 nautical miles off Pakistan's coast.

Shipping traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb strait and Red Sea has fallen by more than 50% since an earlier wave of Houthi attacks from 2023 to 2025. Traffic has declined further since the Houthis announced a blockade last month, with an average of 32 ships per day passing through the strait last week, down from an average of 50 before the blockade. Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has seen even more severe disruption, with just six ships passing through on Monday, down from a 10-day average of about 11 and prewar levels of some 130 to 140.