A PANAMA-flagged tanker engaged in Russian oil trades was hit by a Houthi uncrewed surface vessel in the early hours of Tuesday morning, marking the first attacks against shipping by the Iran-backed group since September 1.

After an initial flurry of four missiles narrowly missed Cordelia Moon (IMO: 9297888), a USV hit the port side ballast tank number 6, leaving the tanker taking in water.

While Cordelia Moon was thought to be the target, a second Liberia-flagged bulker that was nearby at the time of the attacks appears to have also been hit, suffering damage to its starboard side tanks, but quickly resuming its northbound passage towards the Suez Canal.

The targeting of Cordelia Moon — a tanker that has been regularly trading as part of the dark fleet* between Russia and India — appears to indicate the end to one of the Houthi’s longest lulls in attacks against shipping.

The attack comes two days after the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes against what it said was Houthi infrastructure in western Yemen, in response to the Iran-backed group firing a surface-to-surface ballistic missile at central Israel on Saturday.

The selection of Cordelia Moon, later described by the Houthis as a “British oil ship”, appears to be yet another case of erroneous perceived national affiliation on the part of the Houthis.

The vessel is registered to Panamanian company Amber Shipping Incorporated, but is managed by an India-registered company Margao Marine Solutions. Margao are also the registered managers of the tanker Andromeda Star (IMO: 9402471), which was also attacked by Houthis in April having been described as a “British oil ship”.

That appears to be a reference to the vessel’s previous owners Union Maritime Limited, previously based in the UK, which had sold the ship to unknown interests in November 2023.

Cordelia Moon, which had private armed security on board at the time at the time of the attack, was transiting northbound towards the Suez Canal having left India’s port of Vadinar on September 24. The tanker has been regularly trading between Russia and India this year and is assessed by Lloyd’s List to be part of the so-called dark fleet.

The resumption of Houthi attacks comes amid growing concern among industry security officials and western politicians that Russia may be about to start supplying more sophisticated missiles, allowing much more accurate and longer range attacks against vessels.

Russian representatives and the Houthis have held at least two meetings in Tehran this year and further talks are planned, Reuters reported last week, citing two regional officials.

Those concerns were later confirmed by US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking, who conceded in an interview that “it’s something that we are alarmed about”.

The possible addition of super-sonic ‘Yakhont’ cruise missiles, which can be used against land targets and ships with a reported range of around 300 nautical miles, could significantly increase the risk for shipping in the region. It would also increase the risk of collateral damage and erroneous targeting at a greater range.

For the Houthis, the key challenge would be targeting at this range, according to BIMCO head of maritime security Jakob Larsen.

“It is believed much of the Houthi’s coastal radar capability has been destroyed by US and UK forces. However, targeting could potentially be conducted by surface ships relaying target information to the Houthi missile sites,” said Larsen.

Russian missiles are a real concern, according to several security sources contacted by Lloyd’s List.

To date, the various naval forces have been batting away old Russian technology used in Iranian improvised systems, but security and naval experts agree that the Russian weapons systems reportedly under discussion would be much harder for the current fleet of warships protecting shipping to deal with.

While naval sources are confident that they could intercept such missiles if fired at ships under their direct escort, there are serious concerns that more widespread attacks would be difficult to defend against with the current limited levels of naval assets in the region.

“This could be a game changer in the Red Sea,” said Control Risks director Cormac Mc Garry.

While the EU Navfor Aspides operation is doing a great job with the limited vessels it has, Mc Garry argues that it would struggle to offer escort protection to any increase in the current limited volumes of traffic.

“Long term, if the Russian missiles come into Houthi hands, that portends a geopolitical chess piece,” he said. “The Houthis have proved they can and will disrupt global shipping with old weapons. So the question is, how will it look when Russia asks them to do it with new weapons?”