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Yemen’s Houthi rebels have announced an attack on a U.S. Navy mobile base at sea on Monday, a claim that an American defense official has swiftly denied.

The target of the alleged attack was the USS Lewis B. Puller, a vessel that operates as a floating landing base. Previously, the Puller was stationed in the Arabian Sea to help prevent Houthi assaults on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The USS Lewis B. Puller

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, claimed in a statement that the group fired a missile at the Puller in the Gulf of Aden, though he did not provide any evidence to support this claim. Saree stated that such attacks would persist “until the aggression is stopped, and the siege is lifted on the people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip.”

Contradicting the Houthi claims, a U.S. defense official, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, stated there was no reported attack on the Puller. The official noted that previous Houthi missile launches had failed to hit their targets, falling onto land or into the sea.

The Puller was notably involved in a January 11 operation where U.S. Navy SEALs seized Iranian-made ballistic and cruise missile components en route to Yemen, during which two SEALs went missing and are presumed deceased.

The Houthis, since November, have targeted vessels in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas. However, many of these attacks have been on ships with weak or no direct connections to Israel, jeopardizing shipping along a crucial global trade route linking Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Most recently, a commercial vessel was struck by a Houthi missile on Friday, leading to a fire that burned for several hours.