Commercial shipping came under fire at both ends of the Middle East's most disrupted maritime corridor on Tuesday. US forces disabled a containership in the Gulf of Oman, while a separate attack near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — a chokepoint that typically carries a significant share of global container traffic and energy shipments between the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal — left six people dead.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that a Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at the Panama-flagged containership Vela Nova after the vessel allegedly ignored repeated warnings and continued toward an Iranian port in breach of Washington's blockade. CENTCOM stated the strike disabled the ship's steering gear. According to the command, it has now redirected 55 commercial vessels, disabled three, and boarded two since reimposing its blockade against Iranian ports in July.

UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that Vela Nova was struck approximately 71 nautical miles from Pakistan while transiting westbound through international waters in the Gulf of Oman. The vessel's master reported an impact in the stern and steering compartment, leaving the ship not under command. A resulting fire was extinguished, and all crew members were accounted for without injury. The 1997-built, Panama-flagged Vela Nova had been sailing from India toward the Middle East.

Further west, the Egyptian-owned general cargo vessel Tihamah was hit near the Bab el-Mandeb in an attack attributed to the Houthis by Yemen's internationally recognised government. Houthi forces have been targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 2023, a sustained campaign that has prompted many of the world's largest shipping lines to divert vessels around Africa's Cape of Good Hope rather than transit the Suez Canal route.

Yemen's transport ministry reported that three ballistic missiles struck the vessel, killing three Pakistani crew members and one Indonesian seafarer, and starting a fire that caused significant damage. According to Yemen's coastguard, a subsequent attack struck the area after rescue forces arrived, killing two more personnel and raising the overall death toll to six. Ten people were reported injured.

UKMTO independently confirmed that a cargo vessel had been hit by an unknown projectile off Al Mokha, resulting in casualties.

Houthi-controlled news agency Saba subsequently reported that the group's forces had attacked a ship carrying Saudi military equipment in the Bab el-Mandeb, though the brief statement did not identify the specific vessel.

IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez expressed his "sadness and regret" regarding the Tihamah attack.

"These continued attacks on shipping only serve to escalate tensions and threaten global supply chains on which everyone depends," Dominguez said.

Source: Splash247