WASHINGTON: A chemical tanker operating in the Indian Ocean has been struck by an Iranian attack drone, a US Department of Defense official said. This is the seventh Iranian attack on commercial shipping since 2021, CNN reported.
“The motor vessel CHEM PLUTO, a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker was struck at approximately 10 a.m. local time (6 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time) today in the Indian Ocean, 200 nautical miles from the coast of India, by a one-way attack drone fired from Iran, ” the official said in a statement.
A one-way attack drone is designed to impact its target rather than return to its origin. “There were no casualties and a fire on board the tanker has been extinguished, ” the defense official said, CNN reported.
“No US Navy vessels were in the vicinity, ” the statement said, adding Naval Forces Central Command was communicating with the struck vessel.
The strike in the Indian Ocean comes as Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched more than 100 attacks against about a dozen commercial and merchant ships transiting the Red Sea over the past four weeks, CNN previously reported.
US Central Command reported more such incidents in a statement on social media Saturday. A crude oil tanker was hit by “a one-way attack drone”.
There were no injuries, Central Command said.
A separate chemical tanker operating in the southern Red Sea reported a “near miss” from a one-way drone, the command said.
Also, two “anti-ship ballistic missiles” were fired into the southern Red Sea from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen but did not hit any vessels, the statement said, and the USS Laboon, a Navy destroyer, shot down four aerial drones that were heading toward it, CNN reported.