Tehran // Two Iranian destroyers have reached the entrance of Bab El Mandab, a strategic strait between Yemen and Djibouti, with Tehran saying they were sent to protect commerical ships.
“We are present in the Gulf of Aden in accordance with international regulations to ensure the safety of commercial ships of our country against the threat of pirates,” Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari, head of the Iranian navy, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Thursday.
The navy sent the Alborz and Bushehr destroyers to patrol the entrance to the strait, he said.
Bab El Mandeb, a narrow body of water separating Yemen and Djibouti, is the key strategic entry point into the Red Sea, through which around 4 million barrels of oil pass each day on ships headed to or from the Suez Canal.
Last week, US officials said an American aircraft carrier and a cruiser left the waters off Yemen and headed back to the Gulf after an Iranian naval convoy also turned back from the area.
Washington suspected the convoy of carrying weapons destined for Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“The information that the Iranian ships received warnings and left the area is not correct,” Admiral Sayari said, insisting that Iran will not enter “the territorial waters of other countries”.
Admiral Sayari said the two destroyers would stay around Bab El Mandab until late June.
* Agence France-Presse
