The United States shot down four drones headed towards a US destroyer in the southern Red Sea and launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Saturday, US Central Command (Centcom) said.

“These attacks represent the 14th and 15th attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi militants since Oct. 17,” Centcom said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have disrupted world trade for weeks with attacks on ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea in what they say is a response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

The US Naval Forces Central Command responded to distress calls from two ships under attack, Centcom said.

A Norwegian-flagged, owned and operated chemical/oil tanker reported a near miss of a Houthi drone attack, and a Gabon-owned, Indian-flagged crude oil tanker reported being hit by a one-way attack, the post said.

Two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles were also “fired into international shipping lanes in the Southern Red Sea from Houthi controlled areas of Yemen”, it said.

“No ships reported being impacted by the ballistic missiles.”

The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency earlier reported that an uncrewed aerial system had exploded near a vessel in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, 45 nautical miles southwest of Saleef, Yemen.

Meanwhile, a Japanese-owned chemical tanker struck Saturday off the coast of India was targeted by a drone “fired from Iran”, the Pentagon said.

Saturday’s attack took place about 10am local time (0600 GMT) and caused no casualties aboard the vessel, it said, adding that a fire was extinguished.

The US military “remains in communication with the vessel as it continues toward a destination in India,” it added.

It was the first time the Pentagon openly accused Iran of directly targeting ships since the start of Israel’s war on Hamas, according to Agence France-Presse.