An Iranian aid ship has reached the outskirts of Djibouti’s port and is waiting for a permit to enter after Tehran agreed to an international inspection of the vessel with goods for Yemen, Reuters cited an activist on board saying on Thursday.
The Iran Shahed vessel, carrying 2,500 tons of food and medical supplies, was previously bound for the Yemeni port of Hodaida before Iran agreed on Wednesday to allow the international inspection.
“We have arrived outside the port of Djibouti and are waiting for permission to enter,” the activist, Christoph Horstel, told Reuters. “We are being told right now the permit will take three to four hours to get.”
The move reduces the risk of a potential showdown between the vessel and Saudi-led forces enforcing inspections on vessels entering Yemeni ports to prevent arms supplies from reaching the Iran-allied Houthi rebels they have been fighting.
Horstel said once the vessel received permission, a ship pilot would need to guide it into the port from the anchorage, which is within Djibouti’s territorial waters.
“I spoke to the coordinator of the ship and he said it is sure we will dock in the port,” he said.
The voyage had threatened to escalate a regional confrontation over Yemen, in which Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Muslim allies have carried out almost two months of air raids on Houthi fighters it says are armed by Shi’ite power Iran.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, was quoted as saying on Wednesday the decision to send the ship to Djibouti was “so the United Nations inspection protocol can take place”.