US officials deny that the Houthi claimed an attack

Two U.S. officials have rejected a claim made Saturday by Yemen’s Houthi group that its forces attacked the U.S. aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Red Sea. Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the claim was false.

In November, Iran-aligned Houthis attacked the main commercial waterway in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been waging war for more than eight months.

In more than 70 attacks, the Houthis have destroyed two ships, hijacked another, and killed at least three sailors. US warships have intercepted and struck Houthi targets in Yemen almost daily.

Following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the Eisenhower, whose deployment in the Red Sea ended on Saturday, was temporarily relocated to the Mediterranean. It entered the area.

A Pentagon statement said the aircraft carrier battle group (Eisenhower) protected ships transiting the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb, rescued innocent sailors from unlawful attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis, and helped prevent further aggression.

The Pentagon has announced that the US aircraft carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Eisenhower will head for the Middle East after completing an exercise in the Pacific.

The Houthi group had previously stated that its forces had attacked the Eisenhower in the Red Sea and that the operation had been successful. They did not provide further details. The group said it had also attacked a Transworld Navigator merchant ship in the Arabian Sea. The group did not disclose when the attacks took place.

The Houthis said the Transworld Navigator was hit directly by a missile. (Reporting and editing by Cynthia Osterman, Rod Nickel and Phil Stewart)