REPORT: IRAN SENDS NAVY VESSELS NEAR YEMEN AMID AIRSTRIKES
Iran
dispatched a naval destroyer and another vessel Wednesday to waters
near Yemen as the United States quickened weapons supply to the
Saudi-led coalition striking rebels there, underlining how foreign
powers are deepening their involvement in the conflict.
Iran’s
English-language state broadcaster Press TV quoted Rear Adm. Habibollah
Sayyari as saying the ships would be part of an anti-piracy campaign
“safeguarding naval routes for vessels in the region.”
The
maneuver comes amid an intense Saudi-led Gulf Arab air campaign
targeting the Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, who come from a Shiite
sect. Critics say Shiite power Iran backs the Houthis, though both the
Islamic Republic and the rebels deny any direct military assistance.
Speaking
a day earlier in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, U.S. Deputy Secretary of
State Antony Blinken blamed the violence in Yemen on the Houthis, and
forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, saying that the
U.S. is committed to defending Saudi Arabia.
“We
have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our intelligence
sharing, and we have established a joint coordination and planning cell
in the Saudi operations center,” he said in a statement to reporters
after meeting with Saudi royals and Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour
Hadi, who fled his country amid rebel advances.
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