News

SANAA, Yemen, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Iran has sent warships to the Gulf of Aden, ostensibly to combat Somali pirates preying on major shipping lanes.

But the deployment, announced Saturday in Tehran, could bring closer the prospect of a confrontation with Saudi Arabia, its regional rival, amid rising tension in the Gulf and Red Sea regions, both vital oil arteries.

The Iranian move coincides with a Saudi naval blockade in the Red Sea to intercept arms shipments allegedly sent by Iran and Eritrea to Shiite rebels fighting Saudi forces in northern Yemen.

The Yemeni government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh claims the Iranians are arming the Zaidi Shiite rebels who have fought Saleh's forces to a standstill in three months of combat in the mountains of Saada province along the border with Saudi Arabia. Yemen is predominantly Sunni Muslim.