US authorities claim that the Houthis carried out an attack on a US aircraft carrier are false

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A claim made by Yemen’s Houthi group on Saturday that its forces attacked the U.S. aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea was false, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

“That is wrong,” said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Iran-aligned Houthis launched drone and missile attacks on the important trade route for the first time in November. They described the attacks as a sign of solidarity with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been waging war for more than eight months.

In more than 70 attacks, the Houthis have sunk two ships, hijacked another, and killed at least three sailors. But US warships have successfully repelled Houthis’ attacks almost daily and have repeatedly attacked Houthi targets in Yemen.

The Eisenhower, whose deployment in the Red Sea ended on Saturday and which is now temporarily deployed to the Mediterranean, rushed to the region in the days following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.

“The (Eisenhower carrier battle group) protected ships transiting the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb, and the Gulf of Aden, rescued innocent sailors from unlawful attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis, and helped deter further aggression,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Pentagon announced that the U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) will follow the Eisenhower and head for Middle Eastern waters once it completes an exercise in the Pacific.

The Houthi group had previously said its forces had attacked the Eisenhower in the Red Sea and that the operation had successfully achieved its objectives, without giving further details. The group also said it had attacked a merchant ship, the Transworld Navigator, in the Arabian Sea. It did not disclose when the attacks took place.

A statement from the Houthis said the Transworld Navigator was hit directly by a missile.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Rod Nickel)