WASHINGTON (Sputnik) —US warships have begun accompanying British merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.
"They've asked if we would accompany their flagged vessels through the strait."
On April 28, several Iranian Navy patrol ships approached Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel, while in Iranian territorial waters. The ship was directed to an Iranian port.
On April 29, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the seizure of the ship was made in compliance with a court order and refuted any political motives behind the move.
The incident comes amid tensions in the Arabian Sea where an Iranian cargo ship en route to Yemen diverted east after the United States scrambled several warships. Washington claimed that Iran could have been trying to supply weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen, bypassing a UN embargo.
