Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday fired two missiles at a ship carrying corn bound for a port in Iran, causing minor damage, but no injuries to its crew, authorities said.
The attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Star Iris shows just how widely the Houthis now target ships traveling through the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the two waterways.
The Star Iris had been heading from Brazil to Bandar Khomeini in Iran, the main backer and armer of the Houthis in Yemen’s yearslong war.
Photo: Reuters
“The group owner and operator regularly trade bulk cargo with Iran, so this was assessed to be the likely destination,” private security firm Ambrey said, adding that the Star Iris sustained damage to its starboard side in the attack.
The Houthis sought to describe the Star Iris as an “American” vessel, and said they targeted the ship with multiple missiles.
The Star Iris’ ultimate owner, Star Bulk Carriers Corp of Athens, Greece, is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market in New York.
It did not respond to a request for comment.
Days earlier, another ship owned by Star Bulk, the Star Nasia, came under attack from the Houthis.
The Houthis’ military “will not hesitate to carry out more operations in retaliation to the Zionist crimes against our brothers in the Gaza Strip, as well as in response to the ongoing American-British aggression against our dear country,” Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a statement after the attack.
Iran did not acknowledge the Star Iris’ destination, although the US military’s Central Command did in a statement early yesterday.
Central Command identified its cargo as Brazilian corn bound for Iran. Corn is a major Brazilian export to Iran, likely used in animal feed.
The British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations center, which oversees waters in the Middle East, reported the attack, saying it happened while the Star Iris was traveling south through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that separates east Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.
The ship’s captain “reports his vessel was attacked by two missiles and reports minor damage,” the UK center said. “Vessel and crew are safe. Vessel proceeding to next port of call.”
The attack on the Star Iris follows days in which no Houthi attacks on ships were reported.
It is unclear what caused the pause, although the US and British militaries have conducted multiple rounds of airstrikes targeting the Houthis’ missile arsenals and launch sites in territory they hold.
Since November last year, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea over Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
US ELECTION: Polls show that the result is likely to be historically tight. However, a recent Iowa poll showed Harris winning the state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours. The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on election day today. Trump predicted a “landslide,” while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that “we have momentum — it’s
CARGO PLANE VECTOR: Officials said they believe that attacks involving incendiary devices on planes was the work of Russia’s military intelligence agency the GRU Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes headed to North America, including one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England. Poland last month said that it had arrested four people suspected to be linked to a foreign intelligence operation that carried out sabotage and was searching for two others. Lithuania’s prosecutor general Nida Grunskiene on Tuesday said that there were an unspecified number of people detained in several countries, offering no elaboration. The events come as Western officials say
RSS