The United States recently carried out a cyberattack on an Iranian military ship that the Pentagon says was collecting intelligence on commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and passing that information to Houthi fighters, a US military official said on Thursday.

The cyberattack occurred as part of the Biden administration's Feb. 2 response to a drone attack last month by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, killing three American soldiers at a remote outpost in Jordan and wounding dozens of others, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. His identity to discuss operational matters.

American analysts had suspected for weeks that the MV Behshad was operating near the African port of Djibouti, which lies across a strait from Yemen, to spy on nearby ships and pass that information to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The Houthis, who control northern Yemen, launch missiles and drones at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Iranian officials denied these accusations. The Houthis said that their attacks come in solidarity with the Palestinians who are under Israeli attack in Gaza.

The cyberattack was intended to disrupt the Iranian ship's ability to share that information with the Houthis, according to the US military, which did not provide details of the secret mission.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh on Thursday declined to comment on the matter.

The New York Times reported earlier that the United States launched a cyberattack against Iranian targets as part of a response to avenge the killing of the three soldiers in Jordan. This response also included retaliatory strikes against Iranian forces and the militias they support in seven locations in Syria and Iraq. It was first reported by NBC News New details About the cyber attack on Thursday.