A Reuters report, citing maritime security experts, said there is evidence of links and cooperation between Yemen’s Houthis and Somali pirates, amid a surge in attacks on ships sailing off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden.
Reuters reported that an oil tanker called the Sibo 1, which is said to have links to Iran, has become one of the latest targets of the pirates. The ship was seized off the coast of Yemen and was then diverted to Somalia.
Information obtained by Reuters shows that the Sibo 1 is at least the 13th ship to be attacked or hijacked this year near the coast of Somalia or in the Gulf of Aden, which connects Somalia and Yemen.
This represents a significant increase from the previous year, with data from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) indicating that only five such attacks were recorded in 2025.
Timothy Walker, a senior fellow at the Institute for Security Studies, said piracy has often been controlled but not completely eradicated.
Meanwhile, Jay Bahadur, a researcher and associate director at Scopus Insights, said the seizure of an Iranian-linked ship casts serious doubt on the possibility of a link between the Houthis and the recent hijackings.
However, he said there was evidence that Somali pirates were receiving support from some criminal networks in Yemen, particularly those involved in arms trafficking.
Experts have also pointed to long-standing links between criminal groups in Somalia and Yemen, which are based on arms and people smuggling, and Reuters said that war and tensions in the region have also contributed to the resurgence of piracy.
Rising oil prices could make tankers more attractive to hijackers, while some international forces and ships previously focused on fighting piracy off Somalia have been diverted to the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Strait of Hormuz to deal with threats from Iran and the Houthis.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations Authority (UKMTO) said six armed men seized the Eritrean-flagged Sibo 1 on Thursday.
The US government imposed sanctions on the ship in December, accusing it of being part of a so-called “shadow flotilla,” a group of vessels that help Iran evade US sanctions on oil and petroleum products.
The Reuters report comes as the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden are once again facing growing concerns about piracy, hijackings and links between Somali and Yemeni criminal networks.
Reuters has not provided direct evidence that the Houthis are officially behind the latest hijackings, but experts cited by the agency have pointed to signs of links and coordination between the groups involved.
