Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis reported an attack on a Saudi ship carrying military equipment in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, while Yemen's Transport Ministry said four crew members were killed in a suspected Houthi attack on a small cargo vessel, the Tihamah, in the same strait on August 11.
The fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah would be the first deaths on shipping by the Houthis since the Iran war began. A US Navy helicopter also fired two Hellfire missiles to disable the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ship that ignored warnings to stop violating a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Iran's top security official Mohsen Rezaei said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed unless the US accepts Iran's conditions -- the release of frozen assets and an end to regional conflicts. The waterway handled a fifth of global oil and LNG flow before the war.
