Special to WorldTribune.com

As President Barack Obama convened a Camp David summit for “key Arab allies” in which only two Gulf leaders will attend, the Pentagon on May 13 urged Iran to change the course of a cargo ship said headed for Yemen.

On May 12, the Pentagon said it was tracking the ship Iran Shahed after Iranian officials said Teheran would use warships to escort it to Yemen.

Pentagon Spokesman Col. Steven Warren said the U.S. has called for the ship to divert to Djibouti, where the UN has set up facilities, to prove that its cargo was humanitarian as Iranian officials have claimed.

Iranian Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri rejected the U.S. request and said Teheran was within its rights to deliver aid to Yemen amid a ceasefire between Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels.

“I should say frankly that Iran’s restraint has a limit,” Jazayeri said on May 12.

“Saudi Arabia and its novice rulers and the Americans and others should know if they continue to create obstacles on Iran’s aid delivery a fire might start that would definitely be out of their control. My strict recommendation is that they let Iran and other countries deliver their humanitarian aid to Yemen.”

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Marzieh Afkham on May 13 said “we will not permit countries involved in the Yemen war to inspect our ships carrying our humanitarian aid.”

Obama, meanwhile, was seen attempting to ease the shock Arab leaders have experienced over the president’s cozying up to Iran. But most Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) heads of state were having none of it, with only two attending the Camp David summit.

Two of the six GCC leaders, the emirs of Kuwait and Qatar, committed to Obama’s summit. Saudi King Salman sent nephew Prince Mohammed. Oman’s Sultan Qabus dispatched a deputy who is not considered at the forefront of that country’s foreign policy.

Reports on May 13 said a five-day truce had been called in Yemen, but witnesses in southern provinces of Shabwa and Lahj said Saudi warplanes hit Houthi-controlled areas late on May 12.

The Saudis began airstrikes on March 26, looking to push back Houthis who had seized a large chunk of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. Saudi also is looking to restore exiled ally President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi to leadership.