SANAA, YEMEN, 12 August. - (ANA) - Four crew members and two Yemeni rescuers were killed in a Houthi attack on a cargo ship in the Bab Al Mandeb strait, while US forces fired on a Panama-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Oman after it tried to reach Iran in violation of a US blockade. 

 

Yemen’s internationally recognised government accused the Iran-backed Houthis of firing three missiles at the cargo ship in the strait. The attack took place on Tuesday. It is the rebels' first fatal attack on shipping since the Iran war began in February.

 

The Houthis said later they had attacked a Saudi ship carrying military equipment.

 

In the second incident, US forces fired on and stopped a Panama-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman after the vessel attempted to reach an Iranian port in violation of Washington's blockade, US Central Command said. A US Navy helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the ship's engine room after its crew ignored repeated warnings, Centcom said.

 

The attack disabled the vessel's steering gear and ended its attempt to sail towards Iran, Centcom added. The vessel was struck about 130km off the coast of Pakistan, beyond the usual range of hostilities in the Middle East war.

 

Attacks on shipping have become the main obstacle to resolving the conflict. Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to President Sheikh Mohamed, said the region cannot remain “in a state of neither war or peace”.

 

He added that the future requires “clarity in vision and direction”, as negotiators work on a revised version of the US-Iran deal that was vague in its initial text.

 

“At the same time, the upcoming phase cannot be built on shaky foundations or arrangements detached from international law, the principles of peaceful coexistence, respect for sovereignty, and the logic of peace. The goal is to transition to sustainable stability governed by clear and shared rules.”

 

Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on Tuesday negotiations between Oman and Iran on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are now at an advanced stage. The two countries bordering the strait are discussing an alternative route for ships carrying much of the world's oil supply.

 

“We have heard positive feedback from both countries,” he said. The US and Iran are also coming close to “some sort of an arrangement”, Pakistan's Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, told Bloomberg News in an interview published on Tuesday.

 

Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz fell to seven commodity vessels on Monday, below even the recent average. Some Middle East countries have turned to the Red Sea as an alternative export route for oil.

 

But recent Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have further limited options. Their latest strike sparked a fire on board and killed four crew members – three Pakistanis and one Indonesian. A fourth missile was fired as a rescue team attempted to reach the crew, Yemeni officials said.

 

The Houthis struck again after rescue crews arrived, killing two rescuers from Yemen’s National Resistance Forces, an anti-Houthi military group, the Yemen Coast Guard said.

 

 

 

 

Yemen’s internationally recognised government said the target was a Yemeni commercial vessel in the Bab Al Mandeb strait. It said four others were wounded.

 

The Yemeni Transport Ministry said the vessel, the Egyptian-owned Tihama, was struck three times by ballistic missiles while sailing through the strategic waterway on Tuesday morning with a cargo of food. The Houthis fired another missile at the ship as a rescue team attempted to reach the crew, wounding one member, it said.

 

The Coast Guard said the two National Resistance Forces rescuers were killed in a subsequent attack.

 

The ministry condemned what it described as a “terrorist” attack and said the targeting of the Tihama demonstrated an effort by the Houthis to expand their threats to commercial vessels and civilian maritime infrastructure. Attacks on commercial shipping could disrupt supplies of food and consumer goods to millions of Yemenis and pose a broader threat to regional and international maritime security, it said.

 

It called on the international community and maritime organisations to take urgent measures to ensure freedom of navigation and protect crews and maritime workers in the Red Sea, Bab Al Mandeb and Gulf of Aden.

 

Earlier in the day, the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre said a cargo vessel was hit by an unidentified projectile off Yemen’s Red Sea port of Mokha.

 

The agency advised vessels in the area to sail with caution and report any suspicious activity.

 

The Houthis last month declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, in response to what they described as a Saudi siege. Riyadh denies having besieged Yemen.

 

Attacks on ships in the Bab Al Mandeb strait have increased uncertainty for shipping companies already hobbled by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

 

An average of 32 vessels per day passed through Bab Al Mandeb last week, Kpler data showed. Before the blockade, the daily average was 50.

 

Centcom said that as of Tuesday, US forces had redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to breach the US blockade, fired on three non-compliant vessels and boarded two.

 

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the attack on the Panama-flagged vessel.

 

British maritime risk management group Vanguard and a maritime security source said earlier that the cargo ship was believed to have been hit by a missile while sailing through the Gulf of Oman.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/12 August 2026 - - -