Because much of the oil flowing through the Red Sea and Suez Canal came from Russia and — so the theory went — it might be safe. The Houthis themselves signaled Russian ships had nothing to fear, and Moscow is an ally of their sponsor Iran. Oil tankers generally had been largely spared.
“The Houthis themselves signaled Russian ships had nothing to fear,”
Could be just ineptness or an error, Hanlon’s razor may apply: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
Could the Houthis/Iran have any idea of it’s destination/use ?
Could that have tagged it for attention ?
Or
as suggested, it was just stupidity
They could have relied on open source intel which was insufficient /incomplete regarding the cargo .
In my subjective opinion they did not require more attention by hitting cargo originating fm Russia. They made a very clear declaration , they will hit ships which have anything to do with facilitators of genocide in Gaza which are USA and UK .
And I will not elaborate on their apprehensive faculties or mental prowess as it seems to me highly inappropriate if not RASIST. For “stupid” fellas
they are doing quite well by stoping 30% of overall trafic and commerce via S.Canal.
In addition they and Ukrainian folk are educating us that a new era in naval warfare has just arrived and surely made the heads of many thinkers and strategist spinning as simplicity seems to triumph in both cases here .
Another attck reported here:
British-owned vessel attacked in the Red Sea (msn.com)
Houthis fire missiles at ships in the Red Sea, one sustains minor damage (msn.com)