Iran is in the Red Sea, and that poses a major threat to Israel and its Arab neighbors, as well as to global trade and economy.

That was the message conveyed on Tuesday by Israel Defense Minister Benny Gantz to the Annual Economist Government Roundtable in Greece.

“Iran is expanding its aggressive operations in the region in general, and in the naval arena in particular,” said Gantz, stressing that it was out of the ordinary, and entirely unnecessary, for Iranian forces to be patrolling the Red Sea.

The presence of the Iranian ships in the Red Sea increases the likelihood of an armed encounter with Israeli naval forces.

“Iran is a prime example of a widespread regional and global threat: it recently conducted an experiment in Semnan province with a satellite launcher, whose technology could be used to develop a long-range intercontinental missile with a range of thousands of kilometers that could also threaten Central Europe,” added Ganz.