A strike on the deck cargo ship Tihamah off Yemen's southern coast on Tuesday reportedly killed several crew members and intensified concerns about disruption to global shipping. The attack has been attributed to Yemen's Houthi fighters, the non-state armed group backed by Iran that has battled Yemeni Government forces, who are supported by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition, for more than a decade.
Arsenio Dominguez, head of the UN International Maritime Organization, expressed deep concern about the attack and its implications for international shipping. "It is particularly troublesome that the most recent attack has taken place in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden area," he said, noting that continuing attacks "only serve to escalate tensions and threaten global supply chains on which everyone depends."
The Houthis have targeted shipping in the Red Sea for several years, including since the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war in October 2023, in support of Palestinians in Gaza. The group has also threatened to blockade the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key shipping route to the Red Sea. According to media reports, the Houthis claimed in July to have struck two Saudi oil tankers.
The Red Sea attack comes amid an ongoing shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway to the Gulf States and Iran. International Maritime Organization data indicates that only around seven ships passed through the strait on Sunday, compared with a pre-war daily average of roughly 140. Around 6,000 crew members and 500 vessels remain believed to be trapped in or near the strait, nearly six months into the crisis, with around 2,900 individuals evacuated to date.
Disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz following US and Israeli strikes on Iran and counter-strikes by Tehran have caused exports of oil, gas and fertilizer inputs to plunge and prices to rise. The IMO has recorded 65 confirmed incidents and 17 seafarers killed in the Hormuz region since early March.
