The Pentagon said on Tuesday that two Iranian warships have "linked up" with a cargo ship that Iran has said is carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen, as activists on board the vessel said it was due to arrive at the Yemeni port of Hodaida on Thursday. "We're not overly concerned at this point," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told a briefing, adding that the ships' locations were being monitored "every step of the way." Warren said the warships "linked up" with the Iranian cargo ship as it passed an area where the Iranian warships were, according to Tehran, conducting counter-piracy operations. It was not immediately clear whether the warships were now in close proximity of the cargo vessel. A U.S. defense official said the warships were accompanying the cargo ship, broad language that would allow for the ships to simply be in the same general area. A coalition of Gulf Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia has imposed searches on all ships trying to enter Yemen in a bid to prevent weapons being smuggled to the Iran-allied Houthi group which controls much of the country, including Hodaida.
