The Pentagon on Tuesday confirmed that Iran has sent a flotilla of nine ships to the waters around Yemen, an area where the U.S. Navy has its own military presence, including an aircraft carrier.
Both the Iranian convoy — which consists of nine cargo ships — and the USS Theodore Roosevelt are now in the Gulf of Aden, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said on Tuesday.
“They are there — the Teddy Roosevelt along with other U.S. vessels — in the Gulf of Aden because of the deteriorating security situation in Yemen,” Warren said.
{mosads}The U.S. sent the Roosevelt and the accompanying cruiser USS Normandy to the Gulf following Iran’s deployment of its own convoy. A defense official told The Hill last week that the Iranian convoy contained some ships with weapons, presumably to resupply Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Warren said the Iranian convoy was not the “reason” the Roosevelt and the Normandy were sent, but that it was “certainly one of the factors.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Tuesday said the U.S. ships were deployed with the “principal goal” of maintaining “freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.”
Still, Earnest added that the U.S. is “concerned” about Iranian shipments and stressed that the U.S. and its allies are “serious” about enforcing a United Nations arms embargo on weapons shipments to the Houthis.
The tense situation in Yemen is creating a headache for the White House as it seeks to finish a nuclear accord with Iran that many lawmakers are dead-set against.
Earnest would not comment on what specific actions the Roosevelt might take in the Gulf, but said the “destabilizing activity” of Iran, including weapons shipments to Houthi rebels, have contributed to the problems in Yemen.
Warren said the deployment of the aircraft carrier, which holds approximately 5,000 sailors, provides the U.S. with “options.”
He said the ships would stay in the Gulf of Aden as long as U.S. Central Command Chief Gen. Lloyd Austin feels they need to stay there.
“There isn’t a specific time for them to stay or go.”
The U.S. Navy also has 10 other ships in the region.
— This story was updated at 1:55 p.m.