The Yemen-based Houthis carried out their second attack on a commercial vessel in the Red Sea in a week, killing three crew members and wounding two others.

The Houthis’ attack on the Greek-owned Eternity C ship on Tuesday followed their attack on another vessel, the Magic Seas, last Sunday. The Magic Seas bulk carrier subsequently sank after sustaining significant damage.

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These two attacks are the first carried out by the Houthis since late 2024 and are their first since they agreed to a ceasefire with the United States to stop these operations in early May.

“These attacks demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement on Tuesday night.

Her comments, as well as the Houthis’ actions, demonstrated the fragility of the agreement the two sides had come to a couple of months ago.

“They don’t want to fight, and we will honor that,” President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on May 6. “We will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated.”

The Houthis maintained the capability to launch attacks on ships but agreed not to so that they could get the U.S. to stop its bombing campaign against them, which lasted roughly seven weeks before the abruptly announced ceasefire.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged in May, after the ceasefire was enacted, that the Houthis were “not completely destroyed.”

The U.S. had set a goal of reestablishing the freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the waterways off Yemen’s coasts, but the ceasefire deal’s weakness was that it required trusting the Houthis.

The Trump administration said it had restored deterrence against the Houthis, or had convinced them that conducting these attacks would result in such severe repercussions from the U.S. that it is no longer worth it.

But the two consecutive Houthi attacks suggest the ceasefire deal has collapsed, and they may continue attacking commercial vessels, which will put the Department of Defense in a position to respond.

“The United States has been clear: We will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks, which must be condemned by all members of the international community,” Bruce added.

HOUTHIS FIRST RED SEA ATTACK IN MONTHS PUTS US CEASEFIRE IN JEOPARDY

The Houthis first started attacking commercial vessels off Yemen’s coasts in November 2023 after the start of the Israel–Hamas war. They targeted more than 100 commercial vessels between then and December 2024, when the Houthis largely stopped those attacks until this past week. The Houthis had killed four mariners prior to this week’s attacks.

The Houthi attacks prompted shipping companies to reassess the risks involved in having their cargo ships transit the Red Sea, even though it’s a shorter and cheaper route than sailing around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

The Houthis and Israel have repeatedly fired drones and missiles at one another over the Israel-Hamas war.