Iran sends military parts to Gulf of Aden to threaten shipping

Ali Ragab

Iran has sent a destroyer and a support ship carrying helicopters to the Gulf of Aden under the pretext of “providing security for Iran’s merchant ships in international waters,” Iran’s chief of staff Habibullah Sayari said.

Sahand and Khark

Sayari confirmed that the destroyer Sahand, along with the logistics ship and helicopter carrier Khark, are currently carrying out their duties within the framework of the 63rd Iranian naval patrol in international free waters, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA.

The destroyer Sahand, equipped with advanced military and navigational systems, joined Iran’s naval fleet in November 2018.

Sahand is one of the naval units of the 62nd Iranian Naval Intelligence-Combat Corps of the Iranian Army Naval Force, which includes the destroyer Bandar, the logistics ships Lavan and Bushehr.

Targeting international navigation in the straits

Iranian affairs expert Dr. Mohamed Benaiah said Iran’s dispatch of military naval pieces to the Gulf of Aden with tensions in the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz reveals the Iranian strategy in targeting international navigation and control of international corridors, which constitute the most important artery of the global economy.

The most prominent trade transfers and military pieces pass through the straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb, Benaiah said, adding that about 20 million barrels per day pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Depriving the world of these amounts threatens global energy security and high oil prices.

On August 21, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, “If Iran is prevented from exporting its oil, international waterways will not be as secure as before,” according to Iran’s Press TV.

The strategic importance of the Gulf of Aden and Bab al-Mandeb to the Iranian military is no less than that of the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Gulf, Benaiah said. About 25,000 ships pass through Bab al-Mandeb annually. Therefore, Iran aims at controlling the straits or at least disrupting them as part of its strategy in its confrontation with the major powers.

The Washington Institute said in a report on energy security that the threat to Bab al-Mandeb traffic could hinder commercial shipping through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, including about 3.3 million barrels per day of oil shipments from the Gulf to Western ports.

Freely supporting terrorism

Through its military presence in the Gulf of Aden, Iran also aims to support the Houthis with intelligence information and target global and Arab oil tankers.

One of the objectives of Iran’s military presence in the Gulf of Aden is to support the Houthi militia with weapons by smuggling it from the sea to the Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, especially the port of Hodeidah and surrounding areas.

In 2006, a US security report issued by the Stratfor Security Consulting Center revealed an Iranian role in regular smuggling operations, saying that it was carried out from the Eritrean port of Assab to the coasts near the Saada governorate in the Midi directorate of Yemen. The security cordon imposed by the Saudi navy on the port of Midi and Yemen’s northern coast prompted the Iranian navy to add a fourth fleet based in the Gulf of Aden to secure new routes for smuggling weapons to the Houthis, the report said.