DUBAI — Iran sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, state media reported, establishing a military presence off the coast of Yemen. The Alborz destroyer and Bushehr support vessel sailed from Bandar Abbas on a mission to protect Iranian shipping from piracy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said in comments cited by Press TV. The Iranian ships will patrol the Gulf of Aden, south of Yemen, and the Red Sea, Sayyari said. The area is one of the world's most important shipping routes and a gateway between Europe and the Middle East. Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Asiri, spokesperson of the coalition forces and adviser at the office of the minister of defense said on Tuesday there is evidence showing that Iran and Hezbollah militia are involved in providing training to Houthi rebels in using warplanes and artillery. Addressing the daily press briefing on the 13th day of the ‘Decisive Storm” operation on Tuesday, Asiri said the Houthis were able to take control of the huge quantities of arms and ammunition, including weapons of the Yemeni Army. “There has been tremendous increase in the possession of weapons by the Houthis after an agreement with Iran. Subsequently, 14 flights carrying weapons were reaching Yemen in a week,” he said. Meanwhile, the European Union re-imposed sanctions on an Iranian bank and 32 Iranian shipping companies on Wednesday, using new legal grounds, after the measures were struck down by a European court. Coming days after Iran and six major powers reached a framework agreement to end a long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear program, the EU's move is a signal that the 28-nation bloc will keep up sanctions pressure on Iran until a final nuclear deal is sealed. The EU's second-highest court annulled an EU asset freeze on Bank Tejarat and 40 Iranian shipping companies in January, finding fault with the legal grounds given by the EU. The EU, as it has done in other cases, responded by re-listing Bank Tejarat and 32 of the Iranian shipping firms, including Hamburg-based Ocean Capital Administration GmbH, using new legal grounds. Eight firms were not put back on the list published in the EU's Official Journal on Wednesday. The measures take immediate effect. — Agencies
