Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack. There were no reported injuries to the Emerati crew. Al Jazeera reported on video of the attack.

Iran supplied the Houthis with the “shoulder-fired rockets” that nearly destroyed the UAE ship, according to two U.S. officials. It was not immediately clear what type of rocket the rebels may have fired. The ship was formerly contracted to the U.S., two defense officials confirmed, and at one time an American company owned the vessel.

Military officials sent the Navy warships to the southern end of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, also known as the Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers, USS Mason and USS Nitze, armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and an assortment of deck-mounted high-caliber machine guns, joined USS Ponce, a floating staging ship which includes a compliment of special operations forces, according to one official.- Fox News

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