Cargo Ship Damaged by Two Houthi Missile Attacks

The ship issued a distress call, saying it had sustained damage to the cargo hold and was taking on water about 54 nautical miles southwest of Yemen's port city of Hodeidah, British security firm Ambrey said.

Greek shipping sources said the vessel, which bears the name Laax, was sailing to a port nearby to assess the extent of the damage. It was headed to the United Arab Emirates.

Its Greece-based operator Grehel Ship management did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said separately on Tuesday that it had received a report of an incident 31 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah.

The ship was hit by missiles and sustained damage, reporting an impact in the water in close proximity to the vessel, UKMTO said, adding that the crew were reported safe and the vessel was proceeding to its next port of call.

As an Iranian proxy group, the Houthis began attacking maritime commercial traffic in mid-November after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on Muslim countries to blockade Israel. The attacks were first limited to the Red Sea but later expanded to the Indian Ocean.

The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said the ships were the Larego Desert and the MSC Mechela in the Indian Ocean, and the Minerva Lisa in the Red Sea. He did not name the destroyers or specify when the alleged attacks took place.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement on Monday only referring to one “uncrewed aerial system (UAS) stating that warships had destroyed it.

“At approximately 4 a.m. (Sanaa time) on May 27, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces successfully destroyed one uncrewed aerial system (UAS) over the Red Sea, launched from an Iranian-backed Houthi controlled area of Yemen. It was determined the UAS presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels in the region,” the US statement said.

The Houthi’s claim of a much larger attack could not be independently confirmed.

As an Iranian proxy group, the Houthis began attacking maritime commercial traffic in mid-November after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on Muslim countries to blockade Israel. The attacks were first limited to the Red Sea but later expanded to the Indian Ocean. Dozens of attacks have reduced international shipping through the Red Sea, the shortest route between Aisa and Europe.

The sudden death of President Ebrahim Raisi last week in a helicopter crash briefly weakened the national currency, but it recovered surprisingly fast, although it is far from pre-January levels.

The rial, which was trading at around 510,000 per dollar in December 2023, began to fall steadily from early January as tensions rose in the Middle East and Tehran continued to threaten Israel. By mid-March it was trading at around 600,000 to the dollar but fell to 670,000 as Israel attacked Iran’s diplomatic compound in Damascus on April 1.

Two top Revolutionary Guard generals and five other key officers were killed when Israeli missiles flattened a building near the embassy, prompting Iran to vow revenge, and Israel threatening to retaliate.

This raised the likelihood of both an economic and a political crisis for Tehran’s rulers, as the specter of more inflation on top of the current 50-percent annual rate sparked a sense of panic.

Tehran finally delivered on its promise by launching more than 300 drones and missiles against Israel on April 13-14, 99% of which were shot down by Israeli air defenses and allied warplanes.

However, the Israeli response a few days later was very limited and measured, gradually dissipating the fears of a major confrontation.

By late April, the rial began to rise and by mid-May the dollar fell to around 580,000 rials in Tehran’s black market, meaning a strong come back for the rial from the April lows. It has stayed at that level for almost two weeks.

Although the reduction of tensions with Israel is seen by analysts as the main reason for rial’s rebound, government intervention in the markets is always a factor in Tehran.

There are limited sources for the black market to obtain hard currencies, such as US dollars, euros, British pounds or Canadian dollars. The black market’s cash currency flows are mostly from small or individual sources. As a result, when the rial falls sharply and the government decides to intervene, it injects a few tens of millions of US dollars’ worth of hard currencies into the market.

The amount and frequency of these interventions are usually treated as state secrets, but occasionally hints appear in the media.

However, bad news about higher prices for consumers continue to be sporadically reported in Tehran media and on social media. Usually, it takes a few weeks for rial’s fall to impact prices and the annual inflation rate. Local media have reported in the past two weeks have that housing costs and food prices have been rising, with a middle-class family now forced to pay at least $250 a month for rent, which is more than ordinary salaries. Consumption of meat also continues to decline, as one kilogram of meat could cost 5% or more of monthly wages.

The new president, to be elected at the end of June, will face the monumental task of addressing economic challenges that have become increasingly difficult due to ongoing oil-export and banking restrictions. Without exceeding roughly $70 billion in oil exports, the government continually faces significant budget deficits and is forced to print money.

IRGC Chief Commander Hossein Salami and Quds Force Chief Esmaeil Qa’ani met with the leaders and representatives of Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, PFLP, Ansarullah (Houthis), and Iraqi Shia militant groups.

“Raisi's body was in the next room when they were talking,” Beni Sabti, a researcher in the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) think tank, told Iran International. He used to serve as Persian spokesman for the Israeli government on Iranian issues.

The timing of the meeting speaks volumes, according to Sabti who believes it was partly propaganda to save face.

"Even (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad didn't come. Even (Russian President Vladimir) Putin didn't come. So they had to meet someone. They had to produce this picture that we are acceptable. We have legitimacy in the Middle East and who they had?...The head of terrorist organizations," said Sabti.

During the meeting, the participants “reviewed the latest regional developments and emphasized the continuation of jihad until victory in Gaza is achieved,” according to IRGC-affiliated media outlets.

‘Iran's late foreign minister the chain to terror proxies’

"There’s a more important thing about this meeting: It was not about Raisi, it was about the foreign minister, [Hossein] Amir-Abdollahian."

Sabti called the late Iranian foreign minister the link between the Islamic Republic and their proxies in the Middle East.

"Most of us talk about Raisi, the president, but Raisi was the less important guy in that helicopter, or maybe in the whole foreign policy issues. For Iran, the main guy there was Amir-Abdollahian because he was a link and part of the chain. A chain from the Iran regime to these terror organizations," said Sabti.

Amir-Abdollahian had attended the inauguration of two dams near the border with Azerbaijan where Raisi met its president Ilham Aliyev, hours before the fatal helicopter crash.

On Feb. 9, the late foreign minister was in Beirut to show the Islamic Republic's support for Iran-backed Hezbollah, saying Lebanon's security affects Iran and the greater region. He was also welcomed by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

On Feb. 13, Amir-Abdollahian met with the Hamas leader in Doha, Qatar, and reaffirmed Iran's support.

Despite Iran's denial of involvement in the October 7 massacre that killed nearly 1,200 mostly civilians, Tehran continued its public meetings with the leaders of these proxy groups.

Iran supports Hamas with $1 billion a year. The Islamic Republic also supports Palestinian Islamic Jihad with tens of millions and is providing Hezbollah with 70 percent of its budget, Sarit Zehavi from Alma Research Center said in a previous interview with Iran International.

Sabti said Amir-Abdollahian was successful at meeting with Middle Eastern countries that normalized relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords, willing to put aside ideology he said, for the sake of "destroying the relations between Israel and other countries."

"They put the ideology aside, and I don't know how Iran regime somehow convinced Taliban and Hamas, both of whom are Sunnis and from the Islamic Brotherhood. But somehow they all gathered around the same interests and they put the ideology aside," said Sabti.

He believes Wednesday's meeting between Iran and its proxies was a check-in on how to "continue Amir-Abdollahian's role and also to show them that the Iran regime is behind them. They will support them no matter that Amir-Abdollahian is there or not."

Selsky: A wake up call to the West

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the photo of Iran with its terror proxies, showed "how close they all are," said Alex Selsky, an advisor to the Middle East Forum and former advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Selsky said the meeting shows the Iran-backed terror groups are "the soldiers of this [Iran] regime."

"They all came to show their loyalty and to mourn together with the ‘family’. So it just shows us how close all of them are," said Selsky.

Selsky said the photo should be a “wake-up call to the West.”

"I don't remember if we ever saw such a picture that shows visually that it's all one desk. It's all one headquarter. It's all one mission," he said.

"That proves, again and again, to the West...to the world. That's when they want to fight economic terror by Houthis. Or the terror by Hezbollah or Hamas. Who is the head? Who is the one that sends and gives the orders? And who is the one to be targeted? And if the West still doesn't understand it....yesterday is already late," said Selsky, referring to Iran as the head who executes all the orders and finances its proxies.

Selsky, an expert in the Middle East, believes the fatal chopper crash, whatever the cause, reflects poorly on the Islamic Republic and has likely impacted how much confidence its proxies have in their so-called "boss."

"I'm sure that many of the proxies look at their ‘boss’ right now and feel kind of disappointment."

"Any explanation to this accident," he said, "is bad for them [Iran]. Because if it was assassination by whoever did it, it shows the weakness. If the assassination comes from outside, it shows the weakness. If the assassination comes from inside, it shows the weakness and the splits and the rivalry within. If it was just an accident, it shows the weakness. Like they want to fight America and Israel? And they don't know to how to operate an old, small helicopter."

Iran's military chief of staff has ordered a probe into the cause of the helicopter crash, according to the ISNA news agency. However, a cause has yet to be determined.

“I truly believe that the ayatollahs of Iran are promoting a campaign which is a threat not only to Israel. It's not just Israel's problem, it's a global threat,” said Sarit Zehavi.

While the world is familiar with ISIS and Al Qaeda as a radical form of Sunni Islam, what is lesser known is the Iranian ayatollahs – not the Iranian people – as a representation of radical Shiite Islam, according to Zehavi. She believes Iran wants to distribute its Islamic Revolution values around the world.

The Iranian regime, for example, has been militarily and diplomatically supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. The alliance between Iran, Russia and China, forming to counter Western sanctions, is another threat to the economic and political basis of existing Western systems. Iran’s challenge to the West has only intensified with its controversial nuclear program. During this year's Iranian new year speech, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the US will have no choice but to leave the Middle East.

The launch of October 7 with Iran as the so-called ‘boss’ of Hamas, as Zehavi puts it, was just the beginning.

“It’s under the same boss: the ayatollahs of Iran that planned this campaign and created the militias, the proxy militias in all over the region that will enable it to carry out the campaign,” said Zehavi.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel on April 13, nearly two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) members, including a very senior IRGC commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi - in his office adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus.

Israel, along with the U.S. and its Arab neighbours intercepted 99 percent of the drones and missiles headed its way.

“This is a very interesting incident because Iran's main goal is to keep the conflict outside of Iran itself and use the proxy militia. I think that the fact that we don't understand completely why they decided to interfere by themselves, but it definitely can indicate the self-confidence of the ayatollahs of Iran that no one will put them at risk,” said Zehavi. ‘

Lieutenant Colonel Sarit Zehavi is the founder of the Alma Centre, which monitors and disseminates information about Israel's security challenges in the North to people outside of Israel. She briefs Washington officials, foreign delegations and policy makers from around the world.

Zehavi is living near the border with Lebanon where Iran-backed Hezbollah militants have increased their presence this past year. She said Hezbollah is so close they can see right into the homes of Israeli residents. Zehavi said she saw Hezbollah's outposts, towers and militants right at Israel's northern border line while out for a walk recently.

Zehavi said that October 7 was 'step one' in an execution by Iran to unify fronts to achieve its “goals to distribute the Islamic Revolution values all over the world and to eliminate the state of Israel.”

“What we experienced in the first seven months is the execution of the Iranian plan under the name unification of fronts. The Iranians wanted to create a multi-front campaign against the State of Israel and the Western presence here. It started from Hamas. We have Hezbollah launching missiles and drones as we speak,” said Zehavi.

Experts like Zehavi said Iran supports Hamas with $1 billion a year. The Islamic Republic also supports Palestinian Islamic Jihad with tens of millions and is providing Hezbollah with 70 per cent of its budget - and its ideology.

She refers to 'step two' as missile attacks from Hezbollah into Israel, Iran-backed Houthis attacking ships in the crucial shipping channel of the Bad al Mandab in Yemen, and attacks by Iranian-backed militia against U.S. military forces in Syria and Iraq.

As for a 'step three,' Zehavi said that based on statements from the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hezbollah, she believes Iran and its proxies will join a full-scale war if the fighting in Gaza reaches new levels.

She said Northerners in Israel are expecting a Hamas-style attack in the region. Zehavi said more than a decade ago, Hezbollah published its offensive plan for an attack on Israel - and she described its similarity to what Hamas did to southern Israel as “astonishing.”

“They [Hezbollah] continue to say in Arabic to their own people that they have plans to execute the offensive plan to occupy the Galilee, which is where I live, and many others here in Israel,” said Zehavi.

In an interview with Iran International near the Israel- Lebanon border, Zehavi said what has transpired between Iran and Israel is not just an escalation of tensions, but is rather - war.

“It's war. 60,000 Israelis don't know when they will be able to go back to their homes. You cannot tell them it's tensions,” said Zehavi.