The alleged Iranian spy ship feeding Houthi militants intelligence on commercial vessels has resurfaced in Iranian waters.
The 23,176-dwt Behshad (built 1999) began broadcasting an AIS signal again on Tuesday, 12 days after it shut the system off after months in the Gulf of Aden.
When the multipurpose vessel reappeared, it was in the Gulf of Aden before switching its destination to Bandar Abbas and continuing on to the port city.
On Thursday, it was 15 km from its purported destination.
The Behshad had been stationed in the Red Sea since 2021. Tehran said it was there on an anti-piracy mission.
It moved south in January as the Yemen-based Houthis began launching attacks on merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden rather than the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
Then United Arab Emirates-based security provider Neptune P2P said the ship was “highly likely to be providing the Houthis intelligence and targeting information”.
In February, the company said the Behshad was being resupplied with help from China after moving into Djiboutian waters near an onshore Chinese military base.
Neptune P2P identified the resupplying ships as Iranian cargo vessels.
The Behshad replaced the 23,175-dwt Saviz (built 1999), which suffered an explosion on board in April 2021.
The Saviz was allegedly a forward operating base for the Iranian military.
Both vessels are managed by Tehran-based Rahbaran Omid Darya Ship Management. The company is linked to 68 ships in total, according to shipping database Equasis.
It is not clear if the Behshad has been replaced.
The only Iran-flagged ship in the Red Sea region broadcasting an active AIS signal is the 37,450-cbm Eagle Pride (built 1995).
The LPG carrier has its destination set for Port Said in Egypt, having called in Lebanon on Tuesday.
Although the Eagle Pride is not without some mystery: no ship with that name appears in Equasis and its IMO number turns up a ship called the Queen Luca.
The remainder of ships have not broadcast an AIS signal in months.
