The ship was previously used to assist in the maneuvers of cargo boats going there, but researchers suspect the purpose is now the same.
Iran has sent its Alborz warship into the Red Sea through the critical Bab el-Mandeb strait, while Yemen's Houthi rebels have disrupted sea traffic in response to Israel's war crimes against Palestinians, Tasneem news agency quoted Turkish newspapers as saying. The regime did not give specific reasons for sending the warship, but recalled that Iranian military vessels have been operating in the area since 2009.
The agency said “the destroyer Alborz entered the Red Sea” through Bab el-Mandeb, a waterway at the southern end of the Red Sea that connects it to the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean. Iran's naval fleet has been operating in the region “since 2009 to protect sea lanes and repel pirates, among other purposes.”
The US created a multinational naval force for the Red Sea in early December after an 'epidemic' of missile and drone attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels, aligned with Iran's Shia religion against merchant ships, led shipping companies to suspend its trade. Routes in the area.
The Houthis say the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has launched indiscriminate airstrikes and an unprecedented ground offensive.
According to the International Shipping Council, cited by the same sources, 12% of world trade passes through the Red Sea, which provides a shortcut to the Suez Canal.
Also this Sunday, US Navy helicopters fired on Houthi rebels trying to board a cargo ship off Yemen.
On Monday, British Defense Secretary Grant Shabbs said the United Kingdom was “ready to take direct action” against the Houthis to “prevent threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron also spoke on Sunday with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amiraptolahian, about tensions in the Red Sea.
“I made it clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks,” he said on social media, highlighting Tehran's “longstanding support” for the Houthis. Amirabtollahian criticized the “double standards” of some Western countries, saying “the Israeli regime cannot be allowed to set the region on fire through the Gaza war (…),” according to an Iranian Foreign Ministry statement.
Turkish press recalled that in 2021, Alborz prevented a pirate attack against two oil tankers in the Gulf of Aden. It was one of two Iranian warships sent to the strait in 2015 to “ensure the safety of merchant ships,” seen at the time as a sign of tensions with Saudi Arabia.
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