The Behshad, a converted freighter ship, has been the focus of a recent cyberattack by U.S. forces, according to three U.S. officials. The ship is suspected of providing intelligence to Houthi rebels, who have been launching missile and drone attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea since November. Analysts believe that the Behshad has been serving as a staging point and command post for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' operations in Yemen. 

Iran, the primary foreign sponsor of the Houthi movement, has been supplying the rebels with advanced armaments, including ballistic missiles and air defense systems.

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard have intercepted several shipments of Iranian arms bound for Yemen. Iran initially used another anchored merchant ship, the Saviz, for this purpose, but it was damaged in 2019 and replaced by the Behshad. The ship recently relocated to the Gulf of Aden, coinciding with a shift in the focus of Houthi missile attacks to the same region. The attacks subsided in early February, around the time Behshad docked in Djibouti.

Iran denies any involvement in covert military operations and insists that the Behshad is present solely for anti-piracy missions. The recent cyberattack by the U.S. was aimed at disrupting Behshad's role in the Houthi attacks. The U.S. has a history of using cyberwarfare against Iran, most notably with the Stuxnet worm, which targeted Iran's uranium enrichment program. The details of the cyberattack on Behshad have not been officially disclosed.