Iranian spy ship said helping Yemen’s Houthis launch attacks on ships in Red Sea

Iranian paramilitary forces are providing tracking information that the Houthi rebels in Yemen are using to launch drone and missile attacks on commercial ships passing through the Red Sea, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Citing Western and regional security officials, the report says the intelligence is being gathered by an Iranian vessel in the Red Sea and then transferred to the Houthis, allowing the Iran-backed rebel group to target ships that have switched their transponders off.

“The Houthis don’t have the radar technology to target the ships,” an unnamed Western security official tells the newspaper. “They need Iranian assistance. Without it, the missiles would just drop in the water.”

The Western officials quoted in the report say the intelligence-gathering vessel replaced an Iranian spy ship that was struck in a 2021 attack reportedly carried by Israel.

“Iran is giving them weapons, and Iran could stop it,” a senior Israeli official says. “We need to work to put pressure on Iran, so they will stop.”