Two US Navy SEALs who went missing in the Gulf of Aden earlier this month during a raid on an Iranian ship have not been located following an exhaustive search and their status has been changed to deceased, military officials said on Sunday, according to Reuters.
The SEALs were reported missing after boarding the vessel in a Jan. 11 operation near the coast of Somali, the US Central Command said on X.
“We mourn the loss of our two Naval Special Warfare warriors, and we will forever honor their sacrifice and example. Our prayers are with the SEALs’ families, friends, the U.S. Navy, and the entire Special Operations community during this time,” CENTCOM Commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement.
A joint operation carried out by the United States, Spain and Japan searched more than 21,000 square miles of ocean for the missing SEALs, CENTCOM said in the statement but added the mission has now become a recovery operation.
The Washington Post reported last week that that the commandos were sent to look for suspected Iranian weapons en route to Houthi rebels in Yemen.
According to officials quoted in the report, the two SEALs were preparing to board the ship in rough seas when one of them slipped from a ladder. The second sailor, seeing their comrade fall into the water, dove in to help.
The Houthi rebels have upped their attacks in the region since the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, and the war in Gaza which has followed.
The US recently formed an international coalition whose goal is to respond to the Houthi attacks. US and British strikes targeted the Houthis two weeks ago, after the Biden administration and its allies warned the Iran-backed group it would bear the consequences of its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
Two days before the US and British strikes, the two armies shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by the Houthis towards the Red Sea, in what was one of the biggest attacks by the group to date.
Last Sunday, US fighter aircraft downed an anti-ship cruise missile fired at a US Navy destroyer from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, CENTCOM said.
Three days later, the US conducted a fourth round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The strikes came after the US army said that the Houthi rebels attacked a US-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden.