British maritime authorities said on Friday they were investigating a report of an incident 50 nautical miles north of the Yemeni port of Mokha near the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
The UKMTO advised ships to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity
British maritime authorities said on Friday they were investigating a report of an incident 50 nautical miles north of the Yemeni port of Mokha near the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said it had also received reports of an incident around 60 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah, another Yemeni port. It was not immediately clear whether the incidents were related.
The UKMTO advised ships to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity, but did not immediately provide further details about the incidents.
Yemen's 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 Houthis, who rule much of Yemen, says their attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel stops its offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza .
Late on Thursday, the Houthis claimed to have carried out a military operation against a Maersk container vessel, directly hitting it with a drone. The Danish shipping company denied the claim and said the vessel was not hit.
Reporting by Nadine Awadalla and Tala Ramadan; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Mark Heinrich
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.