US Navy Shoots Down Drones Launched By Houthis Over Red Sea
The United States has intercepted and shot down several one-way attack drones launched by Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis on Thursday morning.
The United States has intercepted and shot down several one-way attack drones launched by Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis on Thursday morning.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced in a post on X that the attack was repelled by the USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.
“The drones were shot down while the US warship was on patrol in the Red Sea,” added the report.
According to CENTCOM, “the ship and crew sustained no damage or injury.”
The attack came hours after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) shot down a cruise missile over the Red Sea before it could infiltrate into the Israeli territory.
The missile, which targeted Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat, was believed to have been launched by Yemen’s Houthis, The Times of Israel reported.
On November 15, the Hudner engaged another drone that originated from Yemen. The US Defense Department said in a statement regarding the attack that the drone “was heading in the direction of the ship.”
Since Hamas’s deadly onslaught on Israel on October 7, Yemen’s Houthis, backed by the Iranian regime, have launched several drone and missile attacks against US and Israeli targets in the region.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that Yemen's Houthis had seized a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea as it was sailing from Turkey to India.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office issued a statement after the hijacking of the ship, calling it “an act of Iranian terrorism.”
Though the Islamic Republic has avoided any direct involvement in the Israel-Hamas conflict, the regime has used its proxy groups in the region such as Houthis and Hezbollah to attack Israel and American targets.
In an interview with Khabar Online, Abbas Amirifar stated that Sadeq Mahsouli, the leader of the ultraconservative Paydari party that dominates the Iranian parliament, with several members serving as President Ebrahim Raisi's ministers, must disclose his income sources and the extent of his wealth to the public.
Earlier, conservative political commentator and a former editor of the Kayhan newspaper had also said that Mahsouli should be transparent about the source of his income and tell the nation how he became a super capitalist.
Mahsuli was an aide to Ahmadinejad in the 1990s when he was the governor of Ardabil province. Later, he became his interior minister when Ahmadinejad rose to power as Iran's President in the 2000s.
Mahsouli currently advocates for a political purification campaign launched by his peers, seeking to consolidate all political power within the ranks of the Paydari Party. The campaign has gone much further than just the government, with hundreds of university professors, teachers and artists fired or banned from working.
Hesameddin Ashna, an adviser to former President Hassan Rouhani, has wryly remarked that the present government in Iran is a result of "Mahsoulicracy."
In an interview with Khabar Online, the cleric Amirifar said that the party would not have survived without financial support from Mahsouli's holdings. He added that Paydari was a legitimate political organization when its founding father Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi was alive, but after his death the party lost its legitimacy. He opined that if Mesbah Yazdi was alive, he would have opposed Mahsouli's position in the party.
Amirifar argued that Mahsouli is not a popular political figure and if he ever becomes a candidate for any post, he is unlikely to win the people's vote. However, he insisted that individuals close to Mahsouli run rich entities including the Social Security Organization and the Ministry of Welfare.
While many believe that Mahsouli is a front for Morteza Aqa Tehrani who cannot be the party's leader because of his reputation as a cleric who has a US permanent residency or possibly citizenship, Amirifar said that Mahsouli hides behind Aqa Tehrani to conceal his vast financial resources.
Moreover, Mahsouli's inclusion in the Ahmadinejad Administration tarnished the former President's reputation, as Mahsouli's wealth and financial dealings contradicted Ahmadinejad's professed commitment to social justice. Amirifar noted that Ahmadinejad realized too late that Mahsouli's role in the government was counterproductive.
Mahsouli, a former IRGC general during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, was Ahmadinejad's classmate at the university and his access to vast financial resources first became controversial when the parliament found it hard to endorse his qualifications as Interior Minister, although he finally won the vote of confidence with a narrow margin. He was named as one of the top 10 wealthiest people in Iran 15 years ago.
In his early career in the government, he was close to current aide of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Parviz Fattah, and current Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and several other ultraconservative politicians around Ahmadinejad.
When he wanted to become Ahmadinejad's Oil Minister in the 2000s, he was forced to withdraw his candidacy for the post as an investigation into his sources of income went badly controversial. He finally managed to become Ahmadinejad’s interior minister by just one vote in the parliament.
The Galaxy Leader car carrier, owned by Israeli billionaire Abraham "Rami" Ungar but operated by the Japanese company NYK Line, was seized by Houthi forces Monday. Japan is said to be in direct talks with the group the US is now considering redesignating.
The hijacking, captured in footage released by the Houthis, depicted armed men storming the vessel from a helicopter.
An Iranian spy ship, the Behshad, associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is believed to have played a role in disclosing the Galaxy Leader's location to the Houthis. The Galaxy Leader had turned off its AIS transponder, raising questions about how the vessel's location was made known to the rebels. The Behshad, converted from a cargo vessel, has been present in the Red Sea since 2021, further deepening its connection to the IRGC.
Ronen Solomon, an independent intelligence analyst for IntelliTimes, says evidence points to IRGC Quds Force commander Brig Gen Abdolreza Shahlaei as the potential orchestrator of the hijacking.
The US government's Rewards for Justice program has a bounty of up to $15 million on Shahlaei's head, citing his involvement in attacks against Americans and US allies.
There are 25 hostages of various nationalities on the vessel being held in Yemen. Iran has a history of ship attacks since 2018, coinciding with the US's "maximum pressure" sanctions campaign.
It is believed the Houthis thought the vessel was Israeli, hoping to capture Israeli hostages, amidst the Gaza war. Iran-backed Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, resulting in relentless attacks from Israel. Regime leaders have condemned the Israeli assault and have activated Iran's proxies in the region, including the Houthis, which had threatened to hijack Israeli vessels in the region. The Houthis have also sent missiles towards Israel, along with proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.
