Iranian warships sent to Yemen
Tehran deploys two vessels amid the Saudi campaign against Iran-backed militants.
SANA, Yemen — Iran deployed warships near Yemen, Iranian state media reported Wednesday, raising the stakes in the confrontation between a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition and Shiite Muslim rebels aligned with Iran.
The dispatch of a naval destroyer and another vessel to the area, which was reported by Iran’s Englishlanguage state broadcaster Press TV, marked Tehran’s first overt military involvement since the Saudi-led air campaign began two weeks ago.
Houthi rebels have received aid from Iran, but the Iranian government has denied arming them.
The Houthis, allied with Yemeni military units loyal to deposed strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, have been waging an offensive against forces allied with the internationally recognized president, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi.
Fighting has been focused in the southern port city of Aden, Yemen’s main commercial hub, but airstrikes have pummeled insurgent positions across the country, inflicting heavy civilian casualties.
Press TV said the warships’ mission was to safeguard naval routes. Impoverished but strategic Yemen lies alongside key oil-shipping lanes.
The Iranian move comes on the heels of a U.S. announcement that it was expediting weapons deliveries and increasing intelligencesharing with its Persian Gulf ally Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi-led air campaign, which began March 26, has slowed but not halted the Houthi offensive in Aden, which was Hadi’s last stronghold before being forced to flee the country late last month. He is sheltering in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.