As a US carrier strike group makes its way to the Gulf, a familiar foe to commercial shipping has reared its head for the first time in months. 

A video titled ‘Soon’ published overnight by the Houthis, carried below, suggests the Iranian-backed Yemeni military group is gearing up to target vessels once again. 

Tomorrow marks the 800th day of the Red Sea shipping crisis, according to container shipping expert Lars Jensen, who has been covering the Houthi attacks daily via LinkedIn. The Houthis started their campaign back in November 2023 in solidarity with Hamas’s war with Israel.

The Houthis officially announced in early November that they were halting their attacks on commercial shipping. Their last confirmed attack was on September 29 last year against the Dutch cargo ship Minervagracht. 

The Houthi strikes, which killed at least nine seafarers and sank four ships, forced global trade to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope for the past couple of years, propping up ton-miles and freight rates. Recent weeks have seen increased traffic heading back through the Suez on the back of the Houthis’ prolonged ceasefire, something that is now in doubt following the publication overnight of the video carried below. 

The US is sending a carrier strike group towards the Gulf as tensions with Iran rise again, months after US forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites during Israel’s 12‑day war with Tehran. President Donald Trump openly backed anti-government protesters in Iran earlier this year, telling them “Help is on its way” as authorities cracked down, before later toning down his rhetoric once the demonstrations were suppressed.

Trump confirmed the latest deployment, saying: “We’re watching Iran. We have a big force going towards Iran … we have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens.” 

US officials said the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group, including Arleigh Burke‑class destroyers armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles and Aegis air and missile defence systems, had been redirected from the South China Sea towards the Middle East, reportedly entering the Arabian Sea overnight. 

A senior Iranian politician said earlier this year that any US aggression aimed at Tehran would see international shipping become targets. 

Iran has a history of targeting commercial ships, jamming their AIS systems, and occasionally taking vessels and crews hostage. 

Friday saw the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) slap sanctions on nine more shadow fleet vessels and their respective owners or management firms over their ties to Iran.