Iran is sending another cargo vessel headed toward Yemen that will again test whether U.S. naval forces will allow it to dock there.
The Iranian-flagged Shahed is an about 300-foot long cargo vessel last located in the Gulf of Oman headed toward Yemen. Iran issued a statement Tuesday that the vessel is carrying humanitarian aid, and the Pentagon countered that “if that is the case, we certainly encourage Iran to deliver the cargo” to a United Nations-designated site in Djibouti and to do what otherwise would be a “stunt” putting the recently announced ceasefire in Yemen at risk, said Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren.
In turn, Iran has vowed to protect the Shahed with its own naval assets, potentially escalating to a standoff.
Iran’s state news agency, the Islamic Republic News Agency, reported Tuesday that, “airstrikes on Yemen by a Saudi-led coalition have killed and wounded thousands of innocent people of the country so far.
“[Iran’s] 34th fleet of the navy, which is present in the Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandeb Strait, provides special support for Iranian vessels carrying humanitarian aid.”
The potential new standoff follows a series of moves between the U.S. and Iran to intercept, monitor or harass each others sea movements. As recently as last week the U.S. was escorting its own vessels through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged ship transiting there.
The U.S. has a “robust” presence of warships in the Arabian Sea and Arabian Gulf, Warren said.
The Pentagon would not say whether it knew if the Shahed was indeed carrying humanitarian aid or whether it had other purposes.
