A British warship, the HMS Diamond, repelled a drone attack on Saturday from Yemen's Houthi group in the Red Sea, British officials said.
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"Deploying her Sea Viper missile system, Diamond destroyed a drone targeting her with no injuries or damage sustained to Diamond or her crew," the Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Sunday. These intolerable and illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and it is our duty to protect the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea."
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French navy ship, the FS Languedoc (D653), as seen in port on January 20, 2024 in Djibouti, Djibouti
(Photo: Luke Dray / Getty Images)
Britain joined the U.S. France and other nations in establishing a maritime force to protect sea trade routs after the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen began launching attacks on cargo vessels last January.
Nearly daily strikes have occurred despite the international coalition launching attacks on Houthi military targets.
Earlier, Iran said it had detained an oil tanker carrying 2 million liters of smuggled fuel near its southern port city of Bushehr, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.
Iran, which has some of the world's cheapest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and the plunge in the value of its national currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighboring countries and by sea to Gulf Arab states.