The US deploys the USS Cole destroyer opposite Yemen

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. February 3, 2017, 6:26 PM (IDT)

The USS Cole destroyer was posted in the Red Sea’s Bab al-Mandeb Straits Friday, after  Iranian-backed Houthi rebels began sowing sea mines in waters around the strategic waterway and oil route.
DEBKAfile’s military sources: Planting mines in an international waterway calls for professional expertise beyond the skills of Yemeni rebels. So the assumption by intelligence sources is that they worked under the guidance of Iranian Revolutionary Guards naval officers. This is seen as a further escalation by Iran of tensions in the Red Sea region, following a Houthi suicide attack in three fast boats on a Saudi frigaten a Saudi frigate on Jan. 29.

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