Iranian naval ships docked on Saturday in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on a mission to project the Islamic republic's "power on the open seas," the Fars news agency reported.

The supply ship Kharg and Shaid Qandi, a destroyer, docked in the Red Sea port in line with orders from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, it quoted navy commander Admiral Habibollah Sayari as saying.

"This mission aims to show the power of the Islamic republic of Iran on the open seas and to confront Iranophobia," he said, adding that the mission started several days ago and would last 70 to 80 days.

The commander did not give other destinations.

Iran's navy has been boosting its presence in international waters since last year, deploying vessels in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden on missions to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates.

Tehran also sent two ships into the Mediterranean for the first time in February 2011 through the Suez Canal.

Ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which have long been strained, deteriorated in late 2011 following US allegations that a foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington had been hatched in Tehran.

Tehran has also called on Riyadh to reconsider its vow to make up for any shortfall in Iran's oil exports due to sanctions over its nuclear programme, saying Riyadh's pledge to intervene on the market was unfriendly.

Pacifists protest possible war against Iran
New York (AFP) Feb 4, 2012 - Hundreds of protesters demonstrated Saturday in New York and pacifist groups took to the streets in dozens of other US and Canadian cities in a "Day of Mass Action" against a possible war with Iran.

About 500 protesters gathered in Manhattan's Times Square and marched to the headquarters of the US mission to the United Nations and to the Israeli consulate.

"No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations," read a banner leading the march.

The demonstrations came as Europe and the United States slapped tough new sanctions on Iran, and Israel this week launched new threats of military intervention if the Islamic republic fails to rein in its suspected nuclear development program.

There is heightened speculation that Israel is contemplating air strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, fueled in part by US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's comments to the Washington Post in which he said he believes there is a "strong possibility" that Israel will launch such air strikes this spring.

Iran admits it has a nuclear program but insists it is for peaceful purposes like generating electricity.

"The actions of the Iranian government in no way justify a US war on Iran," Debra Sweet, director of the organization "The World Can't Wait," told AFP at the New York march.

The protest joined efforts from a coalition of about 60 pacifist and human rights organizations.

A leaflet distributed at the New York demonstration said "in many ways, US war on Iran has already begun," citing as examples "harsh economic sanctions" against Tehran, "killing Iranian scientists in car bombings" and that "US aircraft carriers are right off Iran's shore."

"I don't know what (US President Barack) Obama will do but I do know what he has done, which is very hard sanctions that only will hurt ordinary people," Sweet said.

In Los Angeles, activists dressed themselves in orange prison jumpsuits and wore black hoods similar to Guantanamo detainees as part of the anti-war protest there.

Other peace marches were held Saturday in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington and other US cities, according to organizers.

In Canada protests were staged in Calgary and Vancouver, and events were also planned in Britain, Ireland and India.