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IRAN has sent a destroyer bristling with missiles and guns into the Red Sea amid fears of all-out conflict in the Middle East.
The 308ft Alborz sailed through the crucial “Gate of Tears” strait next to Yemen where Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been attacking cargo ships.
It comes just days after a US strike destroyed three Iran-backed Houthi ships killing all terrorists onboard.
On December 31, the Iran-backed rebel group reportedly fired at a Maersk container vessel, who then sent distress calls out for protection.
In the biggest confrontation between the US and the Houthis since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely returned fire on the Houthi boats “in self-defence”.
All militants onboard the three sunken ships were killed, while a fourth boat fled.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree on Sunday said ten members of the rebel group had been killed by the US.
Saree also vowed that the US would “bear the consequences” of the attack.
Meanwhile, the US is calling to withdraw aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford from the region in the coming days, reports have indicated.
The warship will be departing the region after being stationed in the Mediterranean Sea for more than two months in the shadow of Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
Former US ambassador Mark Wallace told The Sun that the US Navy sinking three militias boats in the Red Sea marks a major turning point in the crisis – but “self defence” is not enough to deter the Iranian terror proxy.
Iran’s move to deploy its warship could be seen as an indirect response to the US’ attack on its proxy rebel group.
Previously, head of Iran’s navy Shahram Irani was quoted in Iranian media saying that the Alborz “was carrying out missions in the Red Sea”.
Iran’s Defence Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said on December 14: “Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance.”
Iran and its proxies are seen as the biggest threat to the West, and especially the US.
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Meanwhile, Britain looks to be gearing up to launch airstrikes against the Houthis amid the Red Sea conflict.
After weeks of ambushes and attacks in waters off the coast of Yemen, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has said the UK is ready to fight back.
He says: “As HMS Diamond illustrated earlier in the month, we are willing to take direct action, and we won’t hesitate to take further action to deter threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
“The Houthis should be under no misunderstanding: We are committed to holding malign actors accountable for unlawful seizures and attacks.”
Since Israel started pounding Gaza to wipe out Hamas, the Iran-backed Houthis have been striking cargo ships in the narrowest and most perilous stretch of the Red Sea – the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Ships attempting to navigate the 20-mile-wide gap are forced to sail dangerously close to the coast of Yemen, where increasingly emboldened Houthi rebels are waiting to strike.
The Strait forms the strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
Roughly 10 per cent of all global trade gets through passage.
Situation in the region continue to be tensed as fears grow of Israel-Hamas conflict broadening into a major Middle-Eastern conflict.
Just days ago, a US Republican official called for a massive attack on Iran, urging Biden administration to blow the country “off the map”.
Senator Lindsey Graham told Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin not to show “weakness” after Iran-backed militias attacked US troops in the region.
Iran on the other hand has vowed to seek revenge after senior Iranian military general Sayyed Razi Mousavi was killed on Christmas Day in Syria by an alleged Israeli airstrike.
Slogans like “Death to America, Death to Israel” were chanted during Mousavi’s funeral procession as many waved yellow flags with the message “I am your [Israel’s] opponent”.
