Four crew members were killed in an attack by Iran-backed Houthis on a cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Tuesday, Yemen’s transport ministry said, while the U.S. military said it struck a container ship attempting to sail toward an Iranian port, reports BritPanorama.
The fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah, if confirmed, would mark the first deaths in a Houthi strike on shipping since the Iran war began on February 28.
Later in the day, the Houthis confirmed their attack on a ship in the Bab el-Mandeb, claiming it was carrying Saudi military equipment but did not identify the vessel.
The Saudi Center for International Communication did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The British navy-affiliated agency UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported one incident in the strait on Tuesday, stating a ship was hit by an unknown projectile.
Reuters was able to confirm the cargo ship as Tihamah by matching the shape of the deck and mast with archive imagery of the vessel. Visuals from the dock corroborated satellite imagery and topographic mapping of the area.
Ship-tracking data indicated that the vessel Tihamah was near Murad, Yemen, on August 11. The date was verified by two Yemeni coast guard sources and two military officials from the government, who stated that a small cargo ship was attacked by the Houthis. The British maritime security company Ambrey also reported the Houthi attack on the vessel on August 11.
Three Pakistanis were confirmed killed in the attack, as stated by Pakistan’s foreign minister. The Yemeni ministry reported one Indonesian was also killed, indicating that the crew lost control of the vessel after being attacked.
Two rescuers from the National Resistance Forces (NRF), an anti-Houthi force, were killed when the Houthis launched a subsequent strike as rescue crews arrived, according to the Yemeni Coast Guard.
Ten individuals were reported injured, including seven crew members, two Coast Guard personnel, and one NRF member, according to the Coast Guard.
The Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea on July 20 in response to what they described as a Saudi siege—a claim Riyadh denies.
This incident occurred while the ship was anchored northeast of Perim Island, according to British maritime security group Ambrey.
Attack off Pakistan
In related developments, U.S. Central Command reported it had fired two Hellfire missiles, disabling the steering gear of the Panama-flagged container ship Vela Nova while it was sailing in the Gulf of Oman toward an Iranian port.
The vessel allegedly ignored repeated warnings to cease violating a naval blockade on Iranian ports, according to Central Command.
Two Yemeni rescuers from an anti-Houthi military group were also killed in the Bab el-Mandeb attack, according to Yemen’s Coast Guard.
This incident marks the 12th vessel attacked by U.S. forces since the blockade was announced in April and the third since it was reinstated on July 14.
The ship had recently made port calls in Mumbai and Port Klang, Malaysia, where Iranian-linked vessels have also been noted, reported Charlie Brown, a senior advisor at U.S. advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran.
“The reported U.S. disabling and stopping of the Panama-flagged Vela Nova near the blockade line in the Gulf of Oman, after its recent Mumbai port call alongside these vessels, underscores the heightened scrutiny now being applied to Iran-related shipping,” he stated.
The Vela Nova was believed to have been hit approximately 71 nautical miles off Pakistan’s coast, according to U.K. maritime risk management group Vanguard.
Shipping traffic
Shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb strait and Red Sea has decreased by more than 50% following an earlier wave of Houthi attacks on shipping from 2023 to 2025.
The decline has intensified since the Houthis announced their blockade last month, with an average of 32 ships per day passing through the strait last week, dropping from an average of 50 before the blockade.
Ambrey noted that the cargo ship involved in the incident, identified by sources as Tihamah, was not Saudi-owned or operated and had set out from the Yemeni government-held port of al-Mokha on Saturday.
LSEG data lists Egyptian companies as the ship’s owners and managers. Neither responded to inquiries seeking immediate comment.
Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has also been severely impacted, with just six ships reported passing through recently, compared to a 10-day average of about 11 and pre-war levels of around 130 to 140.
