Egypt has denied any link to a ship targeted off Yemen earlier this week, while condemning attacks on ships and maritime navigation in the Red Sea.
The country’s transport ministry said on Thursday that reports linking the targeted vessel to Egypt or its ports were false.
The denial came after media outlets and social media platforms reported that Yemen’s Houthi group had targeted a ship off the Yemeni coast and that the operating company’s address was in Alexandria, northern Egypt.
“The vessel was flying the Tanzanian flag, owned by a Yemeni national and operated by a company based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates,” the ministry said.
It added that the ship was not registered with Egyptian shipping chambers and had not received a licence to conduct maritime agency work through Egypt’s maritime transport and logistics sector.
“The ship had never entered Egyptian ports, was not heading to Egypt and did not carry any cargo belonging to Egyptians,” the ministry said.
Separately, Egypt’s foreign ministry said Cairo “condemns the targeting of ships in the Red Sea.”
It cited a Yemeni commercial ship flying the Tanzanian flag that was attacked Tuesday with missiles while sailing off Yemen’s coast south of Mokha port in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, as well as a Saudi oil tanker targeted on July 25.
“Such attacks represent a serious threat to the security and safety of navigation in the Red Sea,” the ministry said, adding that it is one of the world’s most important international waterways.
Egypt renewed its “categorical rejection of all acts targeting ships and civilian facilities or threatening the security and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and international waterways.”
Attacks in the Red Sea often reduce traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal, causing financial losses for Cairo as ships divert to alternative routes to avoid security risks.
Since July 20, tensions have escalated in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the Houthis announced a “naval blockade” on ships linked to Saudi Arabia.
Three days later, Riyadh said one of its ships had come under attack and, the following day, carried out strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen’s western Hudaydah province, saying they were used to threaten maritime navigation.
Saudi Arabia also announced the formation of a defensive naval coalition to protect freedom of navigation in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, including the US, Yemen, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Sudan, Morocco, the Maldives, Bangladesh and New Zealand.
