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Iranian Warship Alborz Enters the Red Sea

File photo: The Alborz destroyer fires cruise missiles during naval maneuvers by the Iranian army in the Gulf of Oman. (IRNA)
File photo: The Alborz destroyer fires cruise missiles during naval maneuvers by the Iranian army in the Gulf of Oman. (IRNA)
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Iranian Warship Alborz Enters the Red Sea

File photo: The Alborz destroyer fires cruise missiles during naval maneuvers by the Iranian army in the Gulf of Oman. (IRNA)
File photo: The Alborz destroyer fires cruise missiles during naval maneuvers by the Iranian army in the Gulf of Oman. (IRNA)

Iran's Alborz warship has entered the Red Sea, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday, at a time of soaring tensions on the key shipping route amid the Israel-Hamas war and attacks on vessels by forces allied to Tehran.
Tasnim did not give details of the Alborz's mission but said Iranian warships had been operating in open waters to secure shipping routes, combat piracy and carry out other tasks since 2009.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea since November to show their support for the Palestinian group Hamas in its war with Israel.
In response, many major shipping companies have switched to the longer and more costly route around the Africa's Cape of Good Hope rather than pass through the Suez Canal, which handles about 12% of global trade.
The Alborz warship entered the Red Sea via the Bab al-Mandab Strait, Tasnim said, without saying when. There were unconfirmed reports on social media it arrived late on Saturday.
The Alvand class destroyer had been a part of the Iranian navy's 34th fleet, alongside the Bushehr support vessel, and patrolled the Gulf of Aden, the north of the Indian Ocean and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait as far back as 2015, according to Iran's Press TV.
The US Fifth Fleet said it could not speak for the Iranian Navy or comment on the unconfirmed reports of the Iranian vessel's movements.
Houthi militants attacked a Maersk container vessel with missiles and small boats on Saturday and Sunday, prompting the company to pause all sailing through the Red Sea for 48 hours.
The head of Iran's Navy, Shahram Irani, was quoted in Iranian media on Dec. 2 saying that the Alborz was carrying out missions in the Red Sea.
Iran's Defense Minister, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, said on Dec. 14 in reference to the Red Sea that "nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance".
Peace Talks Are Welcomed
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian held talks with the spokesman for the Houthi group Mohammad Abdul-Salam in Tehran on Sunday.
IRNA news agency reported that they discussed issues of mutual interest and regional matters.
Moreover, Ahmadian praised the Houthis recent activities in the Red Sea.
Iranian foreign minister’s senior advisor for special political affairs Ali Asghar Khaji met Monday with the Houthis chief negotiator Mohammad Abdul Salam, and he hailed the progress made in the Yemeni peace talks.
They stressed the need to find a political solution to the Yemen crisis, according to IRNA.

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South Korea Will Hold Presidential Election June 3 to Choose Yoon’s Successor 

Ahn Cheol-soo, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, leaves after a press conference to announce for the presidential election in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP)
Ahn Cheol-soo, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, leaves after a press conference to announce for the presidential election in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP)
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South Korea Will Hold Presidential Election June 3 to Choose Yoon’s Successor 

Ahn Cheol-soo, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, leaves after a press conference to announce for the presidential election in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP)
Ahn Cheol-soo, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, leaves after a press conference to announce for the presidential election in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP)

South Korea will hold a snap presidential election June 3 to choose Yoon Suk Yeol's successor after the conservative was ousted over his imposition of martial law late last year.

The announcement from acting President Han Duck-soo came four days after the Constitutional Court unanimously removed Yoon from office, which by law, must be followed by an election within 60 days. The next president will serve a full 5-year term.

Deep political polarization will likely shape the election into a two-way showdown between Yoon’s People Power Party and its chief liberal rival, the Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the National Assembly.

It will be an uphill battle for the People Power Party as it struggles to restore public confidence and heal severe internal divisions left by Yoon’s brief enactment of martial law.

The focus of attention is on whether conservatives can regroup and field a strong candidate to compete against likely Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, who observers say is the clear front-runner.

Potential candidates South Korea's political parties are expected to launch primaries to select their presidential candidates in the coming weeks.

The Democratic Party candidate is expected to be Lee, a powerful party leader who faces no major challengers inside the party. Lee, who narrowly lost the 2022 election to Yoon, led the party through a crisis during which many of its members faced off against troops sent by Yoon to encircle the National Assembly building, voted down martial law and later impeached Yoon.

About 10 politicians from the People Power Party are expected to seek the nomination.

Yoon’s baffling decision to enact martial law, which brought armed troops into Seoul’s streets and evoked the country’s traumatic memories of past military rule, was a blow to his party’s reputation even though the party wasn’t directly involved.

Some reformist party members openly criticized Yoon’s actions and cast ballots to impeach him, triggering a feud with the party’s old guard who supported the president.

Yoon has diehard supporters who regularly staged massive rallies. Many share an unfounded perception that Yoon is a victim of a leftist, North Korea-sympathizing opposition that has rigged elections to gain a legislative majority and plotted to remove a patriotic leader.

“South Korea’s conservative party faces significant disadvantages heading into the upcoming election. Two months is a short time to unify the base, moderates and a conspiracy-driven fringe around a single candidate,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

The party’s current leadership is filled with Yoon loyalists, and that will likely let the internal divide continue and undermine its electoral prospects, said Choi Jin, director of the Seoul-based Institute of Presidential Leadership.

Among the leading People Power Party presidential hopefuls, Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo is considered to be the most pro-Yoon. He and Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo opposed impeaching Yoon, while former party leader Han Dong-hoon and senior party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo supported removing him from office. The last major candidate is Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who has maintained an ambiguous position.

Choi said Yoon will likely exert his influence to boost pro-Yoon figures who are seeking the nomination and party leadership posts so they can defend him as he faces a criminal trial. Yoon was charged with rebellion in January, and he could face other charges like abuse of power now that he has lost presidential immunity, which protected him from most criminal prosecutions.

The People Power Party “will need to nominate someone who can win over the public, particularly the moderates, rather than someone who can win the party’s primaries,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. “Korean moderates and the young generation in their 20s and 30s will likely be the swing voters.”

Opposition leader Lee, who has served as a provincial governor and a city mayor, is considered by his supporters as a populist reformer. But critics regard him as a demagogue who relies on stoking divisions and demonizing his rivals.

Lee faces five ongoing trials for corruption and other criminal charges. If he becomes president, those trials will likely stop thanks to presidential immunity.

Yoon has repeatedly accused Lee’s Democratic Party of abusing its parliamentary majority status to obstruct his agenda, impeach senior officials and slash the government’s budget bill. Yoon said his martial law declaration was a desperate attempt to draw public support of his fight against “wickedness” of Lee’s party.

“Lee Jae-myung has many detractors among the South Korean public who believe he nearly broke the government for his own benefit, weaponizing the legislature to push Yoon over the edge and cast his own legal cases as political persecution,” Easley said.

“Lee’s successful maneuvering, including the purge of progressive politicians disloyal to him, means he effectively owns the Democratic Party nomination and has the clearest path to the presidency,” he said.