Houthi Strikes Kill Six on Cargo Ship, U.S. Missile Hits Second Vessel Near Iran Blockade

Six people are dead after Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck a cargo ship twice in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, August 11, according to Yemen's transport ministry and coast guard. This is the first fatal attack on Red Sea shipping in over a year, occurring in the middle of an already grinding war between the U.S., Israel and Iran that started February 28.

The ship was the Tihamah, a small cargo vessel identified by Reuters through satellite imagery and deck-and-mast matching against archive photos. Equasis shipping records list it as Egyptian-owned, flying a Tanzanian flag, operated by a company called Thubab for Marine Services, according to UPI citing The New York Times. Yemen's transport ministry called it a Yemeni commercial vessel carrying food.

Four crew members died in the initial strike: three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian, according to Yemen's transport ministry. A fire broke out on board and the crew lost control of the ship. Then, as rescuers from Yemen's National Resistance Forces, an anti-Houthi group, moved in to evacuate survivors, a second strike hit the rescue operation itself, killing two more people, according to Yemen's coast guard. Ten people total were injured across both strikes, the coast guard said.

The death toll isn't perfectly consistent across sources. Yemen's coast guard put the number at six killed. The transport ministry initially cited four. Gulf News reported the coast guard's higher figure while noting the ministry gave "a slightly smaller toll." Reuters, via Business Standard and TBS News, reported four crew deaths plus two rescuers, landing at six overall. The British navy-affiliated UK Maritime Trade Operations agency confirmed a ship was hit by "an unknown projectile" in the strait that day, and British maritime security firm Ambrey corroborated an attack on the vessel on August 11.

The Houthis have not officially claimed the strike or addressed the casualty figures. A Houthi-aligned media outlet later said the group's forces hit a ship carrying Saudi military equipment in the same strait that day, but didn't name the vessel, according to CNBC and Gulf News. The Saudi Center for International Communication did not immediately respond to a request for comment, per Business Standard.

Yemen's transport ministry didn't wait for a Houthi claim to assign blame. It said in a statement it holds "the Houthi terrorist militias fully responsible for the deaths, injuries and damage inflicted on the commercial vessel 'Tihamah' as well as for the serious consequences resulting from these attacks."

The attack traces back to a decision the Houthis made on July 20, when they declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, breaking a UN-backed 2022 truce that had held through Yemen's civil war. The group called it retaliation for what it described as a Saudi "siege" on Yemen. Saudi Arabia denies that characterization, according to CNBC and ABC Australia.

UPI reported that on Sunday, August 9, Houthi forces hit a Saudi state-owned oil refinery in Jazan and the Red Sea port of Mokha, killing at least seven people there. Tuesday's Tihamah strike adds to a mounting pattern of attacks since the blockade was announced.

A second front, off Pakistan

Hours after the Tihamah attack, U.S. Central Command said a Navy helicopter fired two missiles at the Panama-flagged container ship Vela Nova, disabling its steering and propulsion after the crew allegedly ignored warnings while transiting the Gulf of Oman, according to CNBC. The Wall Street Journal reported the strike involved a Hellfire missile aimed at the ship's rudder, fired after the vessel tried to evade the American blockade of Iran-linked shipping.

Centcom hadn't issued an official comment on that specific strike as of Tuesday night, according to ABC Australia and TBS News. If confirmed, it would be the 12th vessel struck by U.S. forces since the blockade was announced in April, and the third since it was reimposed on July 14, per Reuters reporting carried by both outlets.

Charlie Brown, a senior advisor at United Against Nuclear Iran, told Reuters the Vela Nova's recent port calls in Mumbai and Port Klang, Malaysia, alongside vessels linked to Iran, "underscores the heightened scrutiny now being applied to Iran-related shipping." Centcom says it has redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to breach the blockade, disabled three non-compliant ships, and boarded two since the policy took effect, according to CNBC.

Diplomacy stuck, traffic collapsing

Talks over reopening the Strait of Hormuz remain stalled. Iran's Supreme National Security Council laid out demands over the weekend that include ending the U.S. naval blockade, sanctions relief, American troop withdrawals, and war reparations, according to CNBC. President Trump has countered by demanding Iran pay compensation instead. Iran and Oman are reportedly closer to an agreement on a new transit corridor through Hormuz, but the broader U.S.-Iran impasse hasn't moved.

The practical effect is a shipping industry rerouting away from one of the world's most important chokepoints. Traffic through Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea has fallen more than 50% since the 2023-25 wave of Houthi attacks, and it's fallen further since last month's blockade announcement, according to Kpler data cited by ABC Australia and TBS News. Average daily transits dropped to 32 ships last week, down from 50 before the blockade.

No U.S. or allied casualties have been reported from the Vela Nova strike. Whether the Houthis formally claim responsibility for the Tihamah deaths and whether Riyadh responds militarily to what it calls an unprovoked blockade remain open questions as the conflict grinds into its sixth month.