The missile hit a empty vessel with 24 crew members on board. No casualties were reported.
The Red Sea has witnessed another missile attack on a commercial vessel, according to Ambrey, a maritime security firm. The target was Zografia, a bulk carrier owned by a Greek company and flying the Maltese flag.
The attack occurred on Tuesday, the same day that the US military revealed that it had captured a shipment of Iranian weapons destined for the Houthis, a rebel group that controls parts of Yemen and is backed by Iran. The US also said that it had carried out more airstrikes on Houthi sites in Yemen, destroying four anti-ship ballistic missiles that were ready to be fired.
The US and the UK have been bombing Houthi targets since 11 January, after the group launched several attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis have threatened to retaliate and claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, including the one on Zografia.
The Houthis have said that they are targeting ships that are linked to Israel, either by ownership, flag, operation or destination, in response to Israel’s war with Hamas, a Palestinian militant group. However, many of the ships that have been attacked have no connection to Israel.
Zografia was empty and was on its way from Vietnam to Israel with 24 crew members on board when it was struck by a missile on Tuesday, sources from the Greek shipping ministry told the media. The ship suffered minor damage but no injuries were reported.
The Red Sea is a vital waterway that connects the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. However, due to the security risks, some shipping companies have decided to avoid the Red Sea and take a longer route around the Cape of Good Hope to reach Europe. Shell, a British oil giant, was the latest to announce that it had suspended all its shipments through the Red Sea indefinitely, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The US said that it had seized the Iranian weapons from a traditional vessel known as a dhow near the coast of Somalia on 11 January, the same day that the US-UK airstrikes began. The weapons included cruise and ballistic missile components and parts for air defence equipment.
“This is the first seizure of lethal, Iranian-supplied advanced conventional weapons (ACW) to the Houthis since the beginning of Houthi attacks against merchant ships in November 2023,” US Central Command said in a statement.
The US said that the dhow was unsafe and sank it. The legal status of the 14 crew members is being determined.
US Central Command also said that it was still searching for two Navy Seals who went missing during the operation. Media reports said that one officer fell off the ship due to high waves and the other officer jumped in to try to rescue him, following the protocol.
The US has accused Iran of providing the Houthis with missile technology, which Iran has denied. Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said in a press conference on Monday that the West should end the war in Yemen immediately.
In another development, the Greek ambassador to Iran has reportedly made a formal request to Tehran to release a Greek citizen who is the captain of an oil tanker that was seized by Iran last week.
