The US Central Command (Centcom) said Sunday US Naval Forces shot down four drones that had been launched from Houthi rebels-controlled areas of Yemen on Dec 23, headed towards a US destroyer in the southern Red Sea.
It added in a post on X, formerly Twitter “These attacks represent the 14th and 15th attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi militants since Oct 17,”
Centcom added it responded to distress calls from two ships under attack. A Norwegian-flagged, owned and operated tanker reported a near miss of a Houthi drone attack, and a Gabon-owned, Indian-flagged crude oil tanker reported being hit by a one-way attack.
Two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles were also “fired into international shipping lanes in the Southern Red Sea from Houthi controlled areas of Yemen”, Centcom said. “No ships reported being impacted by the ballistic missiles.”
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency earlier reported that an uncrewed aerial system had exploded near a vessel in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, 45 nautical miles south-west of Saleef, Yemen.
Iran has denied US accusations that it was involved in planning attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
The repeated denial, issued by Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani on Dec 23, came after the White House said Teheran was "deeply involved" in planning the operations and its intelligence was critical to enable the Houthis to target ships.