Thursday 14 May 2015

Will Iranian Aid Ship Make it to Yemen?

A confrontation seems to be brewing between the US and Iran over a humanitarian aid ship that has been dispatched from Iran and is now in route to Yemen (see video above).

While the Press TV report makes no mention of the ship being escorted by Iranian Naval vessels, Western media accounts are mentioning reports of a possible Iranian military patrol joining the aid ship at some point–although a Pentagon official seems to be the soul source of the information.

What Press TV is reporting, however, (see here and here) is that Saudi jets violated the Yemeni ceasefire just minutes after it went into effect today and that the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society has declared publicly that no one has the right to inspect a ship “that is moving in international waters carrying the flag of a country.”

That may be true as long as the ship remains in international waters, but what happens after the aid ship passes through the Bab al Mandab strait and attempts to dock at Yemen’s port of al-Hudaydah on the Red Sea?

The Guardian has posted a report saying that the US military is now tracking the ship and quoting a Pentagon spokesperson on the situation.

“We are monitoring the Iranian ship,” said Col. Steven Warren. “We are aware of the Iranians’ statement that they plan to escort this ship with warships.”

What Iranian statements Warren is referring to is unclear, but he is calling upon those in charge of the ship to re-direct to Djibouti, where supposedly a “distribution hub” has been set up for delivering humanitarian supplies to Yemen.

What follows is a bit more from the Guardian report and includes a somewhat thuggish and threatening quote from Warren:

When asked if the US military would try to search the ship or prevent it from docking in Yemen, Warren declined to comment.

The warnings from Washington raised the possibility of a potential confrontation at sea after tensions flared in recent days in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US navy bolstered its presence in the Gulf after Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel in the vital waterway.

Iranian authorities later released the ship, citing a commercial dispute with Denmark’s Maersk group, which chartered the vessel.

“If the Iranians are planning some sort of stunt in the region, they know as well as we do that it would be unhelpful and in fact could potentially threaten the ceasefire [in Yemen] that has been so painstakingly brought about,” Warren said.

“We call on the Iranians to do the right thing here and deliver their humanitarian aid in accordance with UN protocols which is through the distribution hub that’s been established in Djibouti,” he added.

Will the US carry out its own version of the Israeli attack upon the Mavi Marmara? It’s not a moot question, especially when you consider that the first ship in a new Freedom Flotillahas left port in Sweden and is now, simultaneously as the Iranian ship heads for Yemen, making its way toward Gaza.

How all this is going to turn out is anybody’s guess–hopefully history won’t repeat itself–but it certainly bears watching.

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