Yemen warned on Wednesday that if Iran did not allow a cargo ship bound for the Arabian peninsula with a military escort to be searched then it “bears complete responsibility for any incident that arises from their attempt to enter Yemeni waters.”
“The Yemeni government and the coalition forces do not object to aid shipments entering Yemen as long as they obtain the necessary permits from the legitimate government of Yemen and are searched prior to entry,” Yemen’s U.N. mission told the U.N. Security Council in a letter, seen by Reuters.
The Iranian regime said earlier on Wednesday it would not allow Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces to inspect the ship left Iran on Monday and is being escorted by Iranian warships.
On May 12, the Pentagon said it was tracking the ship. Pentagon Spokesman Col. Steven Warren said the U.S. has called for the ship to divert to Djibouti, where the UN has set up facilities, to prove that its cargo was humanitarian as Iranian officials have claimed.
A senior military official of the Iranian regime warned that any effort to board a Yemen-bound ship – supposedly filled with aid supplies – would “spark a fire.”
One U.S. official told Fox News the Iranian ship has media aboard. “Iran is begging for us to board the ship. This is all for show,” he said.
This time, they claim the ship is carrying only relief supplies to Yemeni citizens. However, a U.S. Navy official told Fox News: “The Iranians were not subtle last time. They had rocket launchers and other weapons on the decks of their ships, but we are not seeing the same thing now.”
U.S. officials cautioned that Iran might be trying to stage some sort of “stunt” all the same.
