JERUSALEM – Iran issued a warning Sunday to the US over the possible targeting of two cargo ships in the Middle East that have long been suspected of serving as a shipping base of operations for Iranian commandos, shortly after the US and the UK launched a massive campaign of airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The statement from Iran about the Behshad and Saviz ships appeared to signal Tehran’s growing nervousness over US strikes in recent days in Iraq, Syria and Yemen targeting militias backed by the Islamic Republic.
The attacks, which were a revenge campaign for the killing of three US soldiers and the wounding of dozens of others in Jordan, all stem from Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has raised tensions across the wider Middle East and raised concerns about regional conflicts erupting.
Yemeni attacks overnight on Sunday hit six Yemeni provinces controlled by the Houthi rebels, including in Sanaa, the capital. The Houthis did not provide an assessment of the damage but the US described an underground missile arsenal, launch sites and helicopters used by the rebels.
“This attack will not stop the Yemeni army and the country from maintaining their support for the Palestinian people in the face of Zionist occupation and crimes,” Houthi army spokesman Brig. Gene. Yahya Saree said. “Aggressor airstrikes will not be answered.”
Iran issued the warning amid US and UK attacks on Houthi ships. via REUTERS
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned the Houthis after the attack that “they will continue to suffer further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels.” The message was echoed by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who said: “The Houthi attack must stop.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, also warned that the strike could continue.
“We are prepared to deal with anything that any group or any country tries to attack us,” Sullivan told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And the president has been clear that we will continue to respond to the threats that American forces face as we move forward.”
The Behshad and Saviz are registered as commercial cargo ships with a Tehran-based company that has been approved by the US Treasury as a front for the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line. Saviz, later Behshad, had been roaming the Red Sea off Yemen for years, suspected of serving as a spy for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
The statement from Iran about the Behshad and Saviz ships appeared to signal Tehran’s growing nervousness over US strikes in recent days in Iraq, Syria and Yemen targeting militias backed by the Islamic Republic. Reuters
In 2017, Saudi Arabia described Saviz as a maritime base and weapons transfer point for the Guard, manned by men in military fatigues. Footage broadcast by Saudi Arabian television shows the ship armed with what appears to be a sealed machine gun mounted to the ship’s deck.
In a video statement Sunday by Iran’s regular military, a narrator for the first time described the ship as a “floating weapon.” The narrator describes Behshad as helping Iran’s mission to “crack down on pirates in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.” However, Iran is not known to have taken part in any recent campaign against the rise of Somali piracy in the region after the Houthi attack.
Just before a new campaign of US airstrikes began, Behshad moved south to the Gulf of Aden. It is currently docked in Djibouti in East Africa just offshore from a Chinese military base in the country.
The US Navy’s Middle East-based 5th Fleet declined to comment on the threat. AP
The statement ended with a warning overlaid with a montage of footage of US warships and the American flag.
“Those involved in terrorist activities against the Behshad or similar vessels affect international maritime routes, security and bear global responsibility for potential future international risks,” the video said.
The US Navy’s Middle East-based 5th Fleet declined to comment on the threat.
Saviz, which is currently in the Indian Ocean near where the US claims a recent Iranian drone strike targeted the shipment, has been attacked before. In 2021, a possible limpet mine explosion blew a hole through the Saviz’s hull, forcing Iran to take the ship home. The attack, which Israel suspects, was part of a wider shadow war between Tehran and Israel after the collapse of the Iran nuclear deal.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
