Tehran: Two Iranian destroyers, sent to the Gulf of Aden to protect commercial ships, have reached the entrance of Bab el-Mandab, a strategic strait between Yemen and Djibouti, Iran’s navy said Thursday.
“We are present in the Gulf of Aden in accordance with international regulations to ensure the safety of commercial ships of our country against the threat of pirates,” the head of the Iranian navy Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari was quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
The navy sent the Alborz and Bushehr destroyers to patrol the entrance to the strait, he added.
Bab Al Mandeb, a narrow body of water separating Yemen and Djibouti, is the key strategic entry point into the Red Sea, through which around 4 million barrels of oil pass each day on ships headed to or from the Suez Canal.
Last week, US officials said a US aircraft carrier and a cruiser left the waters off Yemen and headed back to the Gulf after an Iranian naval convoy also turned back from the area.
Washington suspected the convoy of carrying weapons destined for Al Houthi militiamen in Yemen.
Sayari said the two destroyers would stay around Bab Al Mandab until late June.
