Iran has sent warships to Yemen's Gulf of Aden, setting up potential Saudi conflict

On Wednesday, Iran sent a destroyer and several smaller naval vessels into the Gulf of Aden, purportedly to protect Iranian and other nations' ships from piracy in the key shipping channel off Yemen's southern coast. But the timing and location, as regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia is leading a two-week-old bombing campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, is raising red flags.

"The Iranian navy has regularly sent warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect its ships from pirates," Iranian political analyst Davoud Hermidas Bavand tells The Associated Press. "But given the timing, the dispatch of a destroyer is seen as... muscle-flexing by Iran."

Iran's deployment of its 34th flotilla also came on the same day the U.S. said it directly aided the Saudi-led air campaign for the first time, refueling UAE and Saudi fighter jets midair somewhere outside of Yemeni airspace. The U.S. backs Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee the country by the Houthis, and says the instability is allowing al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to gain ground. To make things more confusing, AQAP and the Houthis are mortal enemies. The World Health Organization said Wednesday that since March 19, 643 civilians and combatants have been killed in the escalating conflict. Reuters has more information in the video below. —Peter Weber

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