Jan. 2 (UPI) —Â In a display of heightening tensions, Iran dispatched a warship to the Red Sea, one day after the U.S. Navy destroyed and sank three Houthi small boats.
Iranian state media reported that the Alborz destroyer moved through the Bab El-Mandeb strait, between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, on Monday. The strait is a strategic maritime and commerce shipping route.
The arrival of the Iran destroyer in the Red Sea comes a day after U.S. Navy helicopters sank three boats carrying Houthi militants, according to U.S. military officials who said U.S. warships were responding to a distress call from a merchant vessel.
According to U.S. Central Command, Houthi militants were attacking a commercial vessel belonging to the Maersk shipping company, before they started shooting on helicopters from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and destroyer USS Gravely.
“The container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats,” U.S. Central Command wrote in a post Sunday on X, formerly Twitter.
“The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense, sinking three of the four small boats, and killing the crews. The fourth boat fled the area. There was no damage to U.S. personnel or equipment.”
A Houthi spokesperson said 10 of the Houthi boats’ fighters were dead or missing, as Yahya Saree called on Yemenis, Arabs and Muslims to be “ready for all options in confronting the American escalation.”
Since November, there have been nearly 20 attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea which have led some shipping companies to abandon the route altogether. The Houthis have claimed the ships were headed to Israel following Hamas‘ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.
In response, the United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian last month to protect the sea lanes. The multinational pact to protect merchant ships has garnered support from Greece, in addition to eight other countries including Britain and Italy.
On Monday, former U.S. diplomat and military officer Joel Rayburn warned Tehran that its move into the Red Sea will not drive the United States out.
“This is what the Iranian regime has always been intending to do with their outpost in Yemen,” Rayburn said. “Make no mistake: Iran continues to enable Houthi attacks against international shipping and the global economy.”
