Loyalists of exiled Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi gather next to tanks on a road on the outskirts of the southern city of Aden.

AFP/Tehran

Two Iranian destroyers, sent to the Gulf of Aden to protect commercial ships, have reached the entrance of Bab el-Mandab, a strategic strait between Yemen and Djibouti, Iran’s navy said yesterday.
In another sign of tensions between Gulf rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, the Saudi charge d’affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry in Tehran to hear a “strong protest” over Saudi military action which prevented an Iranian plane from landing in Sanaa.
“We are present in the Gulf of Aden in accordance with international regulations to ensure the safety of commercial ships of our country against the threat of pirates,” said the head of the Iranian navy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
The navy has sent the Alborz and Bushehr destroyers to patrol the entrance to the strait, he added.
Bab el-Mandeb, a narrow body of water, is the key strategic entry point into the Red Sea, through which around 4mn barrels of oil pass each day on ships headed to or from the Suez Canal.
Last week, US officials said an American aircraft carrier and a cruiser left the waters off Yemen and headed back to the Gulf after an Iranian naval convoy also turned back from the area.
Washington suspected the convoy of carrying weapons destined for Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“The information that the Iranian ships received warnings and left the area is not correct,” Sayari said, insisting that Iran will not enter “the territorial waters of other countries” in reference to Yemen.
Sayari said the two destroyers would stay posted around Bab el-Mandab until late June.
Iran denies having armed Houthi rebels and has called for the immediate end of coalition air strikes as a condition for resuming dialogue aimed at ending the crisis in Yemen.
The Iranian navy has deployed warships in the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean for a number of years to stave off the threat of hijacking for commercial vessels.
In Tehran, the top Saudi diplomat posted in Iran was summoned yesterday to the foreign ministry which “strongly protested” over an incident in which Saudi warplanes bombed Sanaa airport runway to prevent an Iranian plane from landing.
Tuesday’s action “endangering the lives of the crew and members of the Iranian Red Crescent, who brought medical aid to Yemenis and wanted to transfer the wounded, is unacceptable,” said a senior Iranian diplomat, quoted by IRNA.  It was the fourth time in a month the Saudi charge d’affaires was summoned.

Saudi-led coalition warplanes pound rebels in the south
A Saudi-led coalition pressed on yesterday with air strikes against Shia rebels in south Yemen where fierce clashes raged between the insurgents and southern pro-government fighters, local sources said.
Warplanes hit Houthi rebel positions in the main southern city of Aden, in the districts of Khor Maksar and Dar Saad, helping pro-government forces to retake positions, sources among the southern fighters said.
Eight people were killed in overnight clashes in Aden, including five pro-government fighters and three civilians, according to the city’s health chief Al Khader Laswar.
He said 44 others were wounded. Details of losses on the rebel side were not available.
Shia Houthi fighters backed by troops loyal to former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh had made advances in Aden, which is now defended by local militia dubbed “popular resistance” units that have sided with forces loyal to embattled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Saudi Arabia assembled a multi-country coalition last month that launched attacks on the rebels following a request by Hadi, who has since fled Aden to Riyadh.
Although the coalition said it had halted its air campaign on April 21, strikes have continued to pound rebel positions throughout Yemen.
Overnight raids targeted Houthis in the southern provinces of Lahj and Abyan, southern fighters said.
Heavy fighting meanwhile raged between the local militia and rebel forces in Kirsh, a town linking Lahj with the central city of Taez, leaving casualties from both sides, local officials said.
Rebel forces used tanks to shell residential areas in Kirsh as Arab coalition planes dropped arms to pro-Hadi forces, the officials said.
Residents also reported fighting in the southern city of Daleh.
The UN says more than 1,000 people have been killed in fighting in Yemen since late March.