Merchant ships and warships in the Red Sea are under frequent attack from anti-ship cruise missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles, drones and sea mines.
Now a new threat has emerged under the water.
Already on February 18, US Central Command announced that naval forces in the Red Sea had destroyed an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) in Houthi-controlled waters around Yemen. This is the first time that the Houthi movement has been observed operating remotely controlled vessels since attacks began last October.
Just a few days earlier, CENTCOM issued a press release about the seizure of an arms shipment from Iran to the Houthis in Yemen. The seizure included components for unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and, in particular, unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), according to images released by CENTCOM. The weapons seizure links the Houthis' UUV threat to tools and techniques provided by Iran.