“The 30th flotilla had 5 cases of severe conflicts with the pirates,” Admiral Sayyari told FNA in Roudbar city, Northern Iran, on Sunday.
In some cases this involved running gun battles between those pirates in fast boats and elite Iranian naval marine commandos on the high seas. Iran has also suffered casualties in the process.
Unconfirmed reports suggest some of those trade ships were “American of British flagged commercial oil tankers.”
Rear Admiral Sayyari said that the “Iranian Navy’s 30th flotilla of warships ended its mission in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and returned home earlier this month.
“The 30th fleet of warships ended its mission successfully,” Sayyari said.
The Navy’s 30th fleet of warships, comprised of Alvand warship and Bushehr logistic warship docked in Iran’s Southern port city of Bandar Abbas after successfully conducting a 100-day mission of providing safe passage for Iranian shipping lines in the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and sailing through the equator and berthing in Sudanese ports, Tanzania’s Dar al-Salam port and Oman’s Salalah port.
The 30th flotilla of warships carried out the “longest-ever mission” among the Iranian fleets in the international waters.
The Iranian Navy dispatched its 30th flotilla to the Gulf of Aden and the high seas in early April to protect the country’s cargo ships and oil tankers against pirates.
The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, when Somali raiders hijacked the Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen.
In talking with officials at the United Nations it appears Iran is conducting one of the most effective anti piracy campaigns by far in the Gulf of Aden!
According to UN Security Council resolutions, different countries can send their warships to the Gulf of Aden and coastal waters of Somalia against the pirates and even with prior notice to Somali government enter the territorial waters of that country in pursuit of Somali sea pirates.
The Gulf of Aden – which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea – is an important energy corridor, particularly because Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West via the Suez Canal. Around 7.5% of world sea trade is carried via the canal.
It seems odd that Iran is protecting the interests of the United States and other western countries at the same time they are under severe economic sanctions and military threat by them?
See related report: Iranian Navy, Pirates Exchange Gunfire http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/Iranian-Navy-Pirates-Exchange-Gunfire-2014-06-26
See also: Iranian Security Team in High Seas Shootout with Somali Pirates [VIDEO]http://gcaptain.com/pirates-attack-iranian-container/
See report: [VIDEO]: Battle between pirates and Iranian Container Ship, 6 killedhttp://www.linkedin.com/groups/VIDEO-Battle-between-pirates-Iranian-4002699.S.209186143