NEW DELHI: US claims of Iranian offence in Red Sea ringed true after Yemen's Houthi rebels attacked another commercial vessel en route to India. MV Saibaba, a tanker ferrying 25 Indians was attacked in the deep parts of the Red Sea by Iran-supported Houthis. US Central Command announced on social media that a distress message was sent to all US ships in the area. Nobody is reported injured in the attack.

The attack happened on Indian time at 10:30 pm on Saturday. The attack comes just hours after another tanker heading to Mangalore faced a drone attack in the same Red Sea region. In the incident, the US strongly pointed fingers at Iran.

The U.S. military also said two ships alerted a U.S. naval vessel patrolling the South Red Sea that they were under attack. One of these was a Norwegian tanker. The Norwegian ship said it narrowly escaped a Houthi drone attack. Following the repeated incidents, the US forces destroyed four drones fired from the Houthi-controlled area.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels say they are attacking Israeli ships in the Red Sea as part of a declaration of solidarity with Gaza. According to US ship tracking reports, the vessels entering the Red Sea region have dropped by 40% fearing the Houthi ambush coupled with Iran offensives in the deep waters.