Iran’s Proxies Shoot Down Fourth US Drone in Yemen as Tensions Mount Over Commerce Routes

Fox News reporter Stephanie Bennett has reported that Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for crashing a US MQ-9 Reaper drone off the coast of Yemen on Thursday, marking the fourth remotely piloted aircraft brought down by Tehran’s proxy groups since November. The cost to the US government is estimated at over $120m. This latest incident follows two previous instances in which Houthi rebels have shot down MQ-9 drones and brings the total number of attacks on shipping in the region, primarily carried out by Iranian proxies against Israeli targets during ongoing military action in Gaza last autumn to 131 since 2008. This compares with relatively few recent rebel incidents directed at international commerce routes, prompting some analysts to suggest that Tehran may be reining back its proxy groups’ activities as it seeks a return to the nuclear deal abandoned by former US President Donald Trump in 2018. The drone was reportedly shot down near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait at around midnight local time on Thursday, with officials confirming that Houthi rebels had also fired missiles at a vessel travelling through the Gulf of Aden earlier this week after an allied warship intercepted and destroyed another such projectile targeting shipping in the area yesterday. The ongoing hostilities between Iranian proxies and international targets are part of Tehran’s wider strategy to disrupt global commerce routes, particularly those passing through strategic waterways including Bab el-Mandeb, a vital link for Europe’s oil imports from Middle Eastern producers. As well as targeting Israeli shipping lanes in the Red Sea since 2015 and ongoing drone strikes on Saudi Arabian refineries this year alone, Tehran has also been accused of deploying mines to disrupt international commerce routes through Gulf waters during recent months, prompting concerns that such activities could escalate into a wider regional conflict.