Iran Deploys Six Warships to Gulf of Aden

An Iranian Warship
Fars News Agency file photo

Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari in a surprising statement delivered to a gathering of defense officials in Tehran today said that Iran has sent six warships into the Gulf of Aden and the international waters surrounding it.

"Iran has dispatched six warships to international waters and the Gulf of Aden region in a historically unprecedented move by the Iranian Navy," Adm. Sayyari told a gathering of defense officials, Fars News Agency reported [FNA, 25 May 2009]. The six ship were not identified.

Deploying six warships to international waters is an unprecedented move for the IRIN. The move, following the launch last week of the advanced surface-to-surface missile Sejil 2, can be viewed as muscle flexing by Iran.

The country’s president today also defiantly said in Tehran that Iran will not participate in P5+1 negotiations over its nuclear program, reversing recent statements by Iran that it was ready to sit at the negotiation table with P5+1.