Cairo: 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.
According to TRTworld.com, the country's transport ministry stated on Thursday that reports linking the targeted vessel to Egypt or its ports were false. This denial followed media outlets and social media reports suggesting that Yemen's Houthi group had attacked a ship off the Yemeni coast and that the operating company's address was located in Alexandria, northern Egypt.
The ministry clarified that the vessel was flying the Tanzanian flag, owned by a Yemeni national, and operated by a company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It further emphasized that the ship was not registered with Egyptian shipping chambers and had not received a license 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 added.
Separately, Egypt's foreign ministry stated that Cairo condemns the targeting of ships in the Red Sea. It referenced a Yemeni commercial ship flying the Tanzanian flag that was attacked with missiles on Tuesday 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 pose a serious threat to the security and safety of navigation in the Red Sea, the ministry noted, emphasizing that it is one of the world's most crucial international waterways. Egypt reiterated its firm 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 lead to reduced traffic through Egypt's Suez Canal, resulting in financial losses for Cairo as ships divert to alternative routes to avoid security risks.
Since July 20, tensions have risen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the Houthis declared a naval blockade on ships linked to Saudi Arabia. Three days later, Riyadh reported that one of its ships had been attacked and subsequently conducted strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen's western Hudaydah province, claiming 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.