IRAN, SAUDI ARABIA IN
TENSE BUILDUP OPPOSITE YEMEN’S GULF OF ADEN SHORE:
US AIR TANKERS REFUELING
SAUDI JETS
SABER-RATTLING - JUST
THAT AND NOTHING MORE……..
SAUDI-IRANIAN saber-rattling over
YEMEN has reached a dangerous peak, Thursday, April 9, the SAUDI army
spokesman, Brig. Gen. AHMAD AL-ASSIRI, warned: “IRANIAN ships have the right to
be present in international waters, but won’t be allowed to enter YEMENI territorial
waters.”
This was RIYADH’S rapid-fire
riposte for the IRANIAN decision to deploy its navy’s 34th Flotilla, consisting
of the ALBORZ destroyer and the BUSHEHR helicopter carrier warship, in the GULF
OF ADEN opposite the YEMENI coast.
Background Information: YEMEN
YEMEN FIGHTING RISKS DEEPENING SECTARIAN DIVISIONS
YEMEN A CRITICAL BUT FORGOTTEN FRONT
The SAUDI general noted that IRAN
had not evacuated any of its citizens from YEMEN because, he said, “they are
all involved in training and arming the HOUTHIS.”
Soon after launching their air
offensive in late March against the IRANIAN-backed HOUTHI rebels and forces
loyal to ousted president ALI SALEH, the SAUDIS took control of the country’s
airspace to prevent the landing of airlifted IRANIAN supplies for the HOUTHIS.
RUSSIAN flights were also barred later from landing in the embattled country.
Gen. AL-ASSIRI then issued SAUDI
ARABIA'S bluntest threat yet: “Those IRANIANS planning to remain in the country
would face the same fate as the HOUTHIS and their supporters,” he said.
Clearly, the IRANIAN
Revolutionary Guards personnel were being trapped in a SAUDI vice: Unable to
leave YEMEN, on the one hand, they were threatened with death if caught, on the
other. TEHRAN decided to send its most effective naval force to the GULF OF
ADEN when it realized that RIYADH would not heed its warnings to back off YEMEN.
Its presence substantiated the threat of direct IRANIAN intervention in the YEMENI
conflict should harm come to the elite IRGC force aiding the rebels.
The BUSHEHR helicopter carrier
made its maiden voyage to PORT SUDAN at the end of 2012. Shortly after that, on
Dec. 8 of that year, DEBKAfile first revealed is features:
The new 13,000-ton vessel carries
12 IRANIAN strike helicopters, a crew of 200 and has a range of 8,000 nautical
miles that reaches the US coast. There are five landing spots on its decks and
four parking spots, as well as SM-1 and SAM anti-air missiles and 40-mm Fath-40
AAA anti-air cannon. TEHRAN invested $800 million in its first helicopter
carrier.
IRANIAN HELICOPTER CARRIER’S MISSILE RANGE - REACHES WELL INTO NORTHERN
SAUDI ARABIA
If TEHRAN is not scared off by
the SAUDI threat and does order the BUSHEHR to sail into YEMENI territorial
waters, its guns and missiles would be in range there to strike targets in
neighboring SAUDI ARABIA to the north. TEHRAN could justify this attack by YEMENI
President ABD RABBO MANSOUR HADI having been granted asylum in the oil kingdom.
Background Information: SAUDI ARABIA AND IRAN
PROXY WAR BETWEEN IRAN AND SAUDI ARABIA
SAUDI ARABIA’S PROXY WAR
MIDDLE EAST UNDER THREAT AS IRAN ENCOURAGES SHIITE UPRISING IN SAUDI
ARABIA?
However, the SAUDI Air Force
would also be on hand close by over YEMEN to retaliate by bombing the IRANIAN
BUSHEHR and other warships to chase them away from the YEMENI coast, if not to
sink them.
Our sources predict that this
naval-air collision would likely be limited in extent. After peaking to a
dangerous crisis, the clash would most probably be contained before it
escalated into a full-blown war between SAUDI ARABIA and IRAN.
The Obama administration’s
backing for the SAUDI ARABIAN intervention in support of the internationally
recognized YEMEN president HADI was intended to keep IRAN in check.
On Tuesday, April 7, US Deputy
Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN arrived in RIYADH and stated: "SAUDI
ARABIA is sending a strong message to the HOUTHIS and their allies that they
cannot overrun YEMEN by force. As part
of that effort, we have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our
intelligence sharing, and we have established a joint coordination planning
cell in the SAUDI operation center."
He was sending a clear message to
TEHRAN backed up by solid US assistance
1. TEHRAN was being warned not to make the
mistake of assuming that its understandings with Washington over Iran's
regional promotion included license for aggression against Saudi Arabia.
2. Tehran was notified that the SAUDI operational
chiefs would henceforth receive ongoing intelligence gathered by a US military
satellite over the region through their joint coordination center in RIYADH.
This intelligence would also cover the movements of IRANIAN warships in the GULF
OF ADEN and the RED SEA.
3. Further details of vital US
aid came through Thursday, April 9, from Pentagon spokesman Army Col. STEVE
WARREN. He announced that the US Air Force had begun an aerial refueling
mission for “the SAUDI ARABIAN-led mission engaged in air strikes on SHIITE
HOUTHI rebels in YEMEN.” In its first task Wednesday, a US KC-135 Stratotanker
refueled a SAUDI Air Force F-15 Eagle and a UAE F-16 Fighting Falcon.
BAN IMPOSED BY SAUDI ARABIA ON IRANIAN FLIGHT CARRYING PILGRIMS TO
MECCA
WARREN said that the US Central
Command aimed to fly one tanker mission a day in support of the SAUDI-led
alliance, but it would not enter YEMENI airspace to perform it.
Nonetheless, a potential
sea-cum-air clash of arms between SAUDI ARABIA and IRAN off the shores of YEMEN
cannot be ruled out, especially after RIYADH ratcheted up the tension Friday
with a ban imposed on IRANIAN flights carrying pilgrims to MECCA.
EGYPTIAN AND IRANIAN WARSHIPS EXCHANGED FIRE IN THE TUSSLE FOR CONTROL
OVER THE STRATEGIC BAB EL-MANDEB STRAIT
Background Information:
BAB EL-MANDAB: STRATEGIC LINK BETWEEN THE INDIAN OCEAN AND THE
MEDITERRANEAN SEA, VIA THE RED SEA AND THE SUEZ CANAL at:
It would not be the first
firefight to be triggered by the YEMENI conflict. Earlier this week, EGYPTIAN
and IRANIAN warships exchanged fire in the tussle for control over the
strategic BAB EL-MANDEB STRAIT. The episode ended with the IRANIAN ships being
ordered directed from TEHRAN to break off contact and distance themselves from
the EGYPTIAN craft. The IRANIAN Navy commander Rear Adm. HABIBOLLAH SAYYARI
later denied reports appearing in the GULF MEDIA that EGYPTIAN warships had
forced IRANIAN naval vessels to retreat and quit the GULF OF ADEN.
The incendiary tension around the
GULF OF ADEN and rising fear of a SAUDI-IRANIAN military engagement has raised
enough alarm for the US, FRENCH and BRITISH fleets with a naval presence in the
GULF to go on a state of preparedness.
Via DEBKAfile
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