US says it seized Iranian weapons bound for Houthis in Yemen
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US Central Command says it seized Iranian advanced conventional weapons bound for Yemen’s Houthis on 11 January.
It was the first seizure of “lethal Iranian-supplied advanced conventional weapons” to the Houthis since the group began attacking merchant ships in November, it added.
The announcement came as a Greek-owned cargo ship was hit by a missile off the coast of Yemen, a maritime risk management company said on Tuesday, after a string of attacks in the Red Sea by the Houthis. “A Malta-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier was reportedly targeted and impacted with a missile while transiting the southern Red Sea northbound,” Ambrey said in an alert.
The ship, which has visited Israel since the outbreak of war in Gaza and was going to Suez, changed course and headed to port after the incident, Ambrey said.
On Sunday, US forces shot down a Houthi cruise missile targeting an American destroyer, and on Monday a US-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman was hit by another rebel missile.
The missile launches followed Friday’s US and UK strikes on scores of sites in rebel-held Yemen in retaliation for the Red Sea attacks that have disrupted shipping in the vital waterway.
The Houthis have been targeting what they deemed Israeli-linked vessels but after Friday’s strikes, they declared US and British interests “legitimate targets”.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a maritime security agency run by the Royal Navy, also reported an “incident” in an area north-west of Salif in Yemen, without giving further details.