Saudi: Iran ships off Yemen head home after US

A US defense officials said that an Iranian flotilla suspected of carrying weapons bound for rebels in Yemen reversed course and appeared to be heading home, averting a potential confrontation in the Gulf of Aden, Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The cargo ships, accompanied by two Iranian warships, shifted course as a US aircraft carrier moved within 200 nautical miles of the flotilla and Saudi Arabian officials said their sailors would attempt to search the ships if they tried to dock in Yemen.

US defense officials said it was too soon to tell whether a crisis had been averted off the Yemeni coast.

But initial indications suggested the Iranian ships had abandoned an attempt to challenge the Saudi-led effort to prevent arms from reaching the Houthis.

U.S. and Saudi officials have been keeping an eye on at least nine Iranian ships suspected of carrying weapons and supplies to the Houthis.

On Tuesday, the US military sent the USS Theodore Roosevelt and several other warships to the Gulf of Aden to send a warning to Iran not to challenge a United Nations arms embargo on the Houthis.

Saudi officials warned Iran that its sailors would search any ship that tries to dock in Yemen. And President Barack Obama said the US had directly warned Iran not to send any weapons into a country that has been consumed by conflict.