Security agency reports blast near vessel off Yemen

A British maritime security agency said an explosion was heard Tuesday near a vessel off Yemen, where Houthi rebels have been targeting shipping since the Gaza war began in 2023.

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), run by the Britain's Royal Navy, said it "received a report of an incident 120 nautical miles east of Aden, Yemen".

It reported "splash and sound of explosion in the vicinity of vessel. Vessel and crew reported safe and proceeding to next port of call," it added.

The attack happened about 225 kilometers (140 miles) off the coast of Aden, which is held by forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which UKMTO described as an "attack".

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have launched a series of attacks targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor, but did not immediately claim the attack. It typically takes them hours or even days to claim an assault.

The Houthi rebels, who have controlled large swathes of Yemen for more than a decade, have been attacking vessels they deem linked to Israel since soon after the Gaza war began on October 2023.

Their attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war.

The Houthis stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war.

They later became the target of an intense weekslong campaign of airstrikes ordered by US President Donald Trump before he declared a ceasefire had been reached with the rebels. The Houthis sank two vessels in July, killing at least four on board, with others believed to be held by the rebels.

The attack on Tuesday came as Israel has intensified its the war, targeting Gaza City with a new ground offensive.

Meanwhile, tensions remain high as United Nations sanctions are due to be reimposed on Iran over Tehran’s battered nuclear program. Israel launched a 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in which the Americans bombed three Iranian atomic sites.

Earlier this month, the rebels said they had fired a missile at a tanker in the Red Sea, days after Israeli strikes killed their prime minister and nearly half of his cabinet.