Pentagon says Iranian drone ’attack’ hit chemical tanker near India

Iran’s navy showed off its new cruise missiles on Sunday (December 24), amid growing tensions on the region. This footage from Iranian state television comes a day after the U.S. Department of Defense claimed that a drone launched from Iran had struck a chemical tanker in the Indian ocean early on Saturday (December 23). That was the seventh Iranian attack on commercial shipping since 2021, the Pentagon statement said. There were no casualties as a result of the attack and a brief fire on board the tanker was extinguished. A spokesperson for the Iranian delegation at the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. The incident highlights escalating regional tensions and a new risk to shipping lanes. That’s in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza. Iran on Saturday denied U.S. accusations that it was involved in planning attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthi movement on commercia