Pentagon: Burning tanker attacked by Houthis apparently leaks oil | Houthis

The Greek-flagged crude oil tanker “Sounion”, which was attacked by the Yemeni Houthis last week, is still burning in the Red Sea and now appears to be leaking oil, according to the Pentagon.

The tanker was hit by several missiles last week off the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah. The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said they were behind the attack.

The Sounion carries 150,000 tons of crude oil. If an oil spill were to occur, it would have the potential to be one of the worst shipping spills ever.

Pentagon spokesman Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said Tuesday that a third party had tried to send two tugboats to recover the Sounion, but the Houthis had threatened to attack them.

“These are simply reckless acts of terrorism that continue to destabilize global and regional trade, endanger the lives of innocent civilian seafarers, and threaten the vibrant maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the Houthis’ backyard,” Ryder said.

He added that the U.S. military is working with other partners in the region to determine how to help the ship and mitigate any potential environmental impacts.

The Iran-aligned group has sunk two ships and killed at least three crew members during its 10-month campaign. The campaign has upended global maritime shipping as ship owners have been forced to avoid the shortcut through the Suez Canal.

The Houthis said they attacked the tanker in part because Delta Tankers had violated the ban on “entering the ports of occupied Palestine,” Houthis military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised address.

The Sounion was the third ship belonging to the Athens-based tanker company Delta Tankers to be attacked in the Red Sea this month.

The group, which is allied with Iran, attacks ships in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The largest shipping spill ever recorded occurred in 1979, when about 287,000 tons of oil leaked from the Atlantic Empress after it collided with another crude oil tanker during a storm in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Tobago, according to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.