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Navy Warships in Gulf of Aden Ready to Escort Iran’s Aid Cargo Vessel to Yemen

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The Iranian Navy’s 34th Fleet in a message cabled to the country’s cargo ship carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen ensured the captain of the cargo ship that the Iranian warships are only a message away if any emergency case arises, and further offered to escort the vessel to its destination.
Iran Shahed, Iran’s cargo ship carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen, arrived in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday.

The Navy’s 34th Fleet, comprising Alborz destroyer and Bushehr helicopter-carrier warship, is conducting anti-piracy patrols in the high seas and the Gulf of Aden.

The mission of the 34th fleet will last about three months in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

On Wednesday, Iranian destroyer, Alborz, locked its missile systems on an invading vessel in the Gulf of Aden after a high-speed boat left Yemen’s coasts and rushed to attack it.

The Iranian destroyer’s missile systems locked on the target after an invading high-speed boat appeared on the monitor screens of the radar systems in Alborz operations room.

According to reports, the invading vessel changed course and returned to the coast after the Iranian destroyer warned it would target the vessel in seconds.

“If the terrorists ignored our warning, they would be killed with the first bullets of Alborz,” Commodore Hassan Maqsoudlou, the captain of Alborz destroyer, said.

He underlined that the Iranian Naval forces are prepared at any moment to defend the Islamic Iran’s interests.

The incident took place as Iran’s 34th fleet of warships is in the Gulf of Aden on an anti-piracy mission and as the naval fleets of the US and some other western countries have several times reduced their distance from the Iranian fleet in violation of the international rules.

The Iranian cargo ship will berth in the port city of al-Hudayda in Southern Yemen in the Red Sea after passing through Bab al-Mandeb strait.

Iran Shahed ship carrying 2,500 tons of Iran’s aid comprising 2,400 tons of foodstuff and 100 tons of medicine as well as a 12-member medical team left Southern Iran for Yemen last Monday.

A large number of Yemeni people are waiting on the coasts of Hudayda to welcome the Iranian cargo ship.

The residents of al-Hudayda have gathered on the coasts since a few days ago to receive Iran’s medical and food aid.

The people of Hudayda have called on residents of other Yemeni provinces to stage rallies in support of Iran’s aid ship to Yemen and condemning Saudi Arabia and its hostile policies towards their country.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has been trying to dispatch humanitarian aid to Yemen through sea and air, but has so far been unable to do so due to Saudi Arabia’s blockade of the war-ravaged country.

Late in April, Saudi jet fighters shooed away three Iranian cargo planes from Yemen’s airspace. But in the third case they bombed the Sana’a airport control tower and runway seven times to prevent the Iranian defying pilot from landing. The Iranian civilian plane was carrying humanitarian aids, including medical equipment, for the Yemeni people who have been under the Saudi-led airstrikes for over a month now. The cargo plane was due to take humanitarian aid to Yemen and take several civilians, who were critically wounded in the recent Saudi bombings, back to Tehran to receive specialized medical treatment.

Iran had earlier sent five consignments of humanitarian aid to Yemen, including a total of 69 tons of relief, medical, treatment, and consumer items.

The Iranian destroyer’s missile systems locked on the target after an invading high-speed boat appeared on the monitor screens of the radar systems in Alborz operations room.

According to UN Security Council resolutions, different countries can send their warships to the Gulf of Aden and coastal waters of Somalia against the pirates and even with prior notice to Somali government enter the territorial waters of that country in pursuit of Somali sea pirates.

The Gulf of Aden – which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea – is an important energy corridor, particularly because Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West via the Suez Canal.

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