Danish shipping company Maersk on Friday denied a claim by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement that the militia carried out a drone strike on a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.
Containers are seen on the Maersk's container ship Maersk Gibraltar at the APM Terminals in the port of Algeciras, Spain January 19, 2023. Reuters/Jon Nazca
Danish shipping company Maersk on Friday denied a claim by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement that the militia carried out a drone strike on a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.
The Houthis earlier claimed it carried out a military operation against a Maersk container vessel, directly hitting it with a drone. The Houthis, who made the claim in a statement, did not release any evidence.
Maersk on Thursday said ship Maersk Gibraltar was targeted by a missile while travelling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.
"The vessel was not hit," a Maersk spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement following the Houthi claim.
The incident took place near the Bad al-Mandab Strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, where Yemen's Houthis on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a Norwegian chemical tanker.
"The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Bad al-Mandab Strait are extremely concerning. The current situation puts seafarer lives at risk and is unsustainable for global trade," Maersk said earlier.
Houthi military spokesperson Yehia Sareea late on Thursday said the militia had hit the Maersk container vessel with a drone after it refused to respond the Yemeni group's warnings.
A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Houthis shot at the Maersk vessel but missed and were unsuccessful in forcing the ship to stop. The official added that U.S. forces were not in area at the time of incident.
The Iran-aligned Houthis have attacked vessels in Red Sea shipping lanes and fired drones and missiles at Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza over two months ago, heightening fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel stops its offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Alexander Cornwell, and Idrees Ali. editing by Terje Solsvik, Kirsten Donovan, Cynthia Osterman and Deepa Babington
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast on Saturday, but the United States held back from launching air strikes on Iran itself for the first night in two weeks.
Yemen is edging towards the resumption of a more than decade-old frozen conflict, Yemeni officials, Western diplomats and analysts say, as attacks on Saudi infrastructure and shipping by Iran-aligned Houthis test the patience of the kingdom and the Yemeni government forces it backs.
Iran flew Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders, military advisers and missile- and drone-related equipment into Yemen this month, according to four sources, in a move that suggests Tehran is seeking to strengthen the ability of its Houthi allies to threaten Red Sea shipping.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.