Iran’s Alborz destroyer has passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and entered the Red Sea amid rising tensions in the region.

The Iranian Navy’s 94th flotilla of warships, comprising of Alborz destroyer, entered the Red Sea on Monday amid heightening tensions in the strategic maritime route, Tasnim news agency reported.

Since 2009, Iranian warships have been operating in open waters to “secure shipping lines, fight against pirates and carry out other missions,” it added.

The warship, overhauled and equipped with state-of-the-art systems, joined the Iranian Navy’s fleet in 2019.

The flotilla’s arrival in the Red Sea comes amid rising tensions following Yemen’s retaliatory attacks on Israeli-owned and -bound vessels in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In a stern statement on Sunday, Yemen’s Armed Forces warned the United States that Washington bears full responsibility for the consequences of a deadly attack by the US Navy on Yemeni boats in the Red Sea.