Two Iranian warships have begun escorting the Yemen-bound Iran Shahed cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, the vessel's captain said in remarks published by Iran's Tasnim news agency on Monday.

"The 34th fleet has made contact with us and told us that they will keep an active presence alongside the aid ship," Massoud Ghazi Mirsaid was quoted as saying by Tasnim, referring to a destroyer and a support vessel in the Gulf of Aden.

The warships will escort the cargo ship all the way to the port of Hodaida in western Yemen, which it is expected to reach on May 21, Mirsaid added.

By Reuters