The smartphone screen shows a MarineTraffic map showing the concentration of vessel beacons in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, with a map of the strait in the background. Creteil, France, March 30, 2026 (Photo by Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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A cargo ship in the Red Sea has been reported to be under attack amid a shaky ceasefire between the United States and Iran, Britain’s maritime security alert service, the Center for Maritime Trade Operations, said on Sunday.
The morgue said it received reports of the incident 30 nautical miles (56 kilometers) southwest of Yemen’s port city of al-Hudaydah.
In a post on X, UKMTO said it had “raised a distress alert that a cargo ship was under attack by unknown assailants,” adding that authorities were investigating the incident.
He urged ships to “navigate with caution.”
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea from 2023 to 2025 in retaliation for Israel’s war in Gaza, but have largely remained absent from the war between the United States and Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman is one of the world’s most important chokepoints for energy shipments from the Middle East, while the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, is another important shipping route.
It has served as a key relief valve for oil markets after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in February, as exports through the Strait of Hormuz plummeted due to Iranian attacks on tankers and cargo ships.
After shutting Hormuz, Saudi Arabia ramped up oil flows through the East-West pipeline, diverting millions of barrels a day into the Red Sea. These barrels cross the Bab el-Mandeb River to Asia, helping to make up for some of the lost supply to major economies such as Japan and South Korea.
The United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17 that ends nearly four months of war, reopens the Strait of Hormuz and sets up 60 days of negotiations to finalize a permanent peace deal.
Since then, oil shipments have increased. Saudi Arabia has transported around 34 million barrels of oil through Hormuz since June 17, according to data from trade information firm Kpler. Riyadh’s exports in the two weeks ending July 2 were more than double the 15 million barrels the country shipped through the strait between March 9 and June 17.
The benchmark Brent crude oil price has fallen 39% from its March high.
