Mediaboss Marketing

Iran issues a warning to the US over potentially targeting two cargo ships in the Mideast long suspected of serving as forwarding operating base for Iranian commandos, just after America and the United Kingdom launched a massive airstrike campaign against Yemens Houthi rebels.

The statement from Iran on the Behshad and Saviz ships appears to signal Tehrans growing unease over the US strikes in recent days in Iraq, Syria and Yemen targeting militias backed by the Islamic Republic.

The Behshad and Saviz are registered as commercial cargo ships with a Tehran-based company the US Treasury has sanctioned as a front for the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. The Saviz, then later the Behshad, have loitered for years in the Red Sea off Yemen, suspected of serving as spy positions for Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

In the video statement by the Irans regular army, a narrator for the first time describes the vessels as floating armories.

The narrator describes the Behshad as aiding an Iranian mission to counteract piracy in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

However, Iran is not publicly known to have taken part in any of the recent campaigns against rising Somali piracy in the region off the back of the Houthi attacks.

The statement ends with a warning overlaid with a montage of footage of US warships and an American flag.

You're a dedicated reader

Were really pleased that youve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

Thats why we started the Times of Israel eleven years ago - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we havent put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

Continued here:
Tehran issues threat to US against targeting two Iran-linked cargo ships in Red Sea - The Times of Israel