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The US shoots down two drones launched by the Houthis from Yemen, considering them to be “an imminent threat”
April 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Iranian Navy will begin to escort Iranian commercial ships that transit to the Red Sea, operating as far as the Suez Canal, amid the rise in tensions in the Middle East due to Israel's offensive against the Gaza Strip and the attacks Iranians against Israeli territory after the bombing of its Consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
“The flotillas of the Islamic Republic of Iran are carrying out missiles to escort our commercial ships. At the moment, the destroyer 'Jamaran' is present in the Gulf of Aden with its force and the mission will continue to the Red Sea,” he said. said Navy Commander Shahram Irani.
“We will escort our ships from the Gulf of Aden to the exit of the Suez Canal. We are prepared to also protect ships from other countries,” he said, as reported by the Iranian news agency Tasnim.
Likewise, he stressed that Iran's attacks against Israel in response to the bombing of its Consulate in Damascus “demonstrate to the whole world how a real power and a false power act”, before highlighting that “the balance of power in the region has changed.”
The area of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea has also been the scene of a rise in tensions due to the attacks carried out from Yemen by the Houthi rebels against ships with some type of relationship with Israel due to the offensive against Gaza. They have also attacked American and British ships for their bombings against Yemeni territory in response to the group's actions.
In this sense, the United States Army has claimed in recent hours to have shot down two drones launched by the Houthis from areas they control in Yemen against the Red Sea, determining that they posed “an imminent threat” to their forces and the merchant ships that they They travel this route.
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has noted in a statement published on its account on the social network the Red Sea.
“It was concluded that unmanned aerial devices presented an imminent threat to the United States, the coalition and merchant vessels in the region,” he said, before elaborating that “these actions are carried out to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer for U.S., coalition and merchant vessels.”
