Iran says it has dispatched two warships to the Gulf of Aden to ply the same waters as several U.S. Navy vessels are already operating there, one of which launched several Tomahawk missiles at Tehran-backed Houthi radar installations early Thursday morning.

According to the Iranian Tasnim news site, which has links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, the frigate Alvand and logistics ship Bushehr are heading to the Yemeni coast “to protect the country’s trade vessels against piracy.” But the site also notes that “the presence of the Iranian fleet in the Gulf of Aden coincides with the US decision to directly get involved in a Saudi-led war against Yemen.” Piracy has all but disappeared in the area, and the Iranian ships are scheduled to then sail south down Africa’s east coast.

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