Iran has deployed its 'Alborj' warship in the Red Sea. It is part of the 34th Fleet of the Iranian Navy. As of 2015, the warship patrolled the Gulf of Aden, the northern Indian Ocean and the Bab el-Mandab Strait.
Reuters reported the deployment of the warships on Monday (January 1), citing the Iranian news agency Tasnim.
According to media reports, Iran has deployed warships there after Israeli and Western armed ships were deployed to counter the attacks of Houthi rebels. The battleship Alborz entered the Red Sea through the Bab el-Mandab Strait. However, there is no word on when the warship entered the Red Sea. Meanwhile, the US Navy's Fifth Fleet did not comment on the matter.
Iran has not released detailed information about this mission in the Red Sea. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been targeting Israeli and other Western ships in the Red Sea since last November as part of their support for the Palestinian independence group Hamas in its war with Israel.
Before this, last Saturday and Sunday, the Houthi rebels attacked the container ship of Maersk, one of the largest companies in the shipping and maritime goods transportation sector in the Red Sea. Along with the missile attack on that ship, they tried to board a small boat. In the wake of this attack, they announced that no more ships would sail in the Red Sea for 48 hours.
On December 2, Iran's Navy Chief Shahram Irani was quoted as saying by the country's media that the Alborz is conducting a mission in the Red Sea. Later on December 14, Iran's Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said about the Red Sea that no one else can advance in the areas where we have dominance.
Incidentally, about 12 percent of world trade goods are transported through the Suez Canal. The Houthi attacks have forced many of the world's major shipping companies to take the long and expensive route around Africa's Cape of Good Hope instead of going through the Suez Canal.