Earlier Venezuela, now two Iranian ships appear to reach St Petersburg

Once appearing to be heading towards Venezuela, two Iranian ships are now appearing to reach the Russian city of St Petersburg and are in the Baltic Sea currently, according to a website that tracks ships, MarineTraffic. 

According to two US defence officials familiar with the ships' movements said, the ships’ position indicates they are likely headed to St Petersburg to participate in Russia's Navy Day events. 

For about two months, the Pentagon has been monitoring the movement of the ships as they took round near the southern tip of Africa and appeared set to cross the Atlantic for Venezuela. 

The concern of the Pentagon officials was the introduction of Iranian weapons into the Western Hemisphere through the possible delivery of weapons to Venezuela. 

The ships, which were off the coast of West Africa in mid-June, began to inch north instead of crossing the Atlantic. 

After the US imposed diplomatic pressure on the regime of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela was forced to turn away the Iranian ships, said two officials at the time. 

Not just this, diplomatic pressure was also put by the US on other countries along the route of the Iranian vessels, such as Senegal.