A ship has been targeted in the southern reaches of the Red Sea in the latest suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels, officials said.
Tuesday's attack came as Yemen's main sponsor, Iran, weighs a possible retaliatory attack against Israel over the assassination of Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh in late July.
The attack happened around 70 miles south of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said.
The attack saw an explosive detonate near the ship, although "the vessel and crew are reported safe," the UKMTO said.
The private security firm Ambrey said the ship saw "two 'close-proximity' explosions."
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, although it can take hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults. They have also claimed others that apparently have not happened.
The Houthis have targeted more than 70 vessels with missiles and drones in a campaign that has killed four sailors since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October.
They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the time since. Other missiles and drones have been either intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or splashed down before reaching their targets.
The rebels maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or the UK as part of a campaign they say seeks to force an end to the war. Many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have launched drones and missiles toward Israel, including an attack on July 19 that killed one person and wounded 10 others in Tel Aviv.
Israel responded the next day with airstrikes on the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida that hit fuel depots and electrical stations, killing and wounding a number of people, the rebels say.
After the strikes, the Houthis paused their attacks until August 3 when they hit a Liberian-flagged container ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden. A Liberian-flagged oil tanker came under an intense series of attacks beginning August 8 which were likely carried out by the rebels.
As Iran threatens to retaliate over Haniyeh, the US military has told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area.
The US also has ordered the USS Georgia guided missile submarine into the Middle East, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group had been in the Gulf of Oman. Additional F-22 fighter jets have flown into the region, while the USS Wasp, a large amphibious assault ship carrying F-35 fighter jets, is in the Mediterranean Sea.
