Iranian Warships to Escort Yemen-Bound Cargo Ship -IRNA

DUBAI, May 12 (Reuters) – Iranian warships will accompany a cargo ship sure for the Yemeni port of Hodaida, which is held by Iran-allied Houthi fighters, a naval commander was quoted as saying by state information company IRNA on Tuesday.

The Iran-flagged Iran Shahed cargo ship set sail on Monday and could possibly be intercepted by Saudi-led coalition forces.

The Saudi-led coalition has accused Iran of arming the Houthis. Their naval forces have imposed inspections on all ships making an attempt to enter Yemeni ports – searching for weapons sure for Houthi fighters.

Last month, coalition jets bombed the runway at Sanaa airport to stop an Iranian cargo aircraft from touchdown.

“The 34th fleet, which is currently in the Gulf of Aden, has special responsibility to protect the Iranian humanitarian aid ship,” Admiral Hossein Azad stated, referring to a destroyer and assist vessel patrolling worldwide waters off Yemen.

A five-day ceasefire in Yemen’s civil struggle is about to take impact at 11 p.m. (2000 GMT) to permit meals and medication into the nation, which assist teams warn faces a humanitarian disaster.

Tehran says it’s sending solely humanitarian assist to Yemen.

The Iran Shahed vessel was crusing away from Iran’s coast into the Gulf of Oman at 1334 GMT, ship monitoring information on Reuters confirmed.

Iran’s Fars information company reported individually that seven activists from the United States and Europe, together with from Germany, had been on board the ship.

The vessel’s Tehran-based proprietor Valfajr Shipping, which was listed on transport databases, couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.

The improvement comes after Iran final week launched a Marshall-Islands flagged container ship and its worldwide crew which had been seized final month in one of many world’s main oil transport lanes. (Reporting by Sam Wilkin and Jonathan Saul; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Dominic Evans)