Two Iranian warships have joined a cargo ship that Tehran says is carrying supplies to Yemen. US Army Col. Steve Warren said the ships linked up overnight Monday, setting up a possible conflict as the US insists the supplies go to Djibouti, where the United Nations is coordinating humanitarian aid for Yemen. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The vessel, the Iran Shahed, is carrying nearly 2, tons of aid including flour, rice, canned food, medical supplies and bottled water, all urgently needed in the conflict-wracked and impoverished state, according to Iran.
It is expected to reach port on Thursday, and entered the Gulf of Aden on Sunday. Passengers on the Iran Shahed include doctors, anti-war activists from the United States, France and Germany, and journalists, according to the Tasnim news agency. The Pentagon had urged the ship to divert to Djibouti — where the UN has an aid hub across the narrow strait that separates Yemen from the Horn of Africa — to prove its cargo was humanitarian.
The dispute raised concerns of a potential confrontation between the US and Iran in the vital sea lane which links the Gulf and the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. The US has five warships in the western Gulf of Aden. Iran said last week that it would protect the supply ship, and threatened war if it was attacked.
A Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship was recently detained by Iran for more than a week as it traveled through the Strait of Hormuz.
Last week, an Iranian naval patrol in the Persian Gulf fired on a Singapore-flagged commercial tanker, causing no injuries.
