The British Maritime Trade Operations announced that a cargo ship reported the approach of a small boat carrying six armed men approximately 88 nautical miles southwest of Balhaf, Yemen.
According to the agency's statement on Wednesday, an exchange of gunfire occurred between the small boat and the ship's onboard security team, leading the boat to retreat.
This incident comes amid escalating tensions between Iran and the United States, following U.S. strikes on southern Iranian sites in response to Iranian forces downing an Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz.
The maritime skirmish also followed clashes that began Sunday evening between Iran and Israel, which ceased after both sides halted strikes, reportedly at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Houthi group has not participated extensively in the latest regional escalation, aside from the Israeli Army's announcement on Tuesday that it intercepted a suspicious aerial object launched from Yemen after alarms signaled an intruding aircraft near Eilat.
Two days ago, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, spoke of a 'coordinated response from the united front of resistance.' He stated, 'From the Strait of Hormuz to Bab al-Mandab, and from the Arabian Gulf to the Red Sea, there will be a new security belt for resistance,' as reported by Iran's IRNA news agency.
It is noteworthy that Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi Shiite factions, both supporters of Tehran, have attacked Israeli and U.S. targets in the region during the conflict initiated by the U.S. and Israel against Iran on February 28th.