The Iranian Navy’s 32nd fleet has foiled an attack on an Iranian oil tanker in international waters in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.
According to the navy’s public relations department, a group of pirates on speedboats moved towards the tanker near Yemen’s Al-Mukalla port, but turned away after the fleet launched an attack.
The 32nd flotilla is part of the Iranian Naval units, comprising the Jamaran and Bushehr destroyers.
The vessels returned to the region after taking part in the Mohammad Rasoulallah (PBUH) war games in Iran’s territorial waters and Northern Indian Ocean last month, the Fars News Agency reported.
Corresponding to international efforts to fight piracy, Iranian warships have been performing anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, in the wake of an attack on chartered cargo vessel MV Delight by Somali pirates off the Yemen coast.
According to the Iran Navy’s rear admiral Habibollah Sayyari, the country’s naval forces have prevented more than 150 pirate attacks on merchant vessels and oil tankers in recent years, and have escorted approximately 2,000 commercial vessels.
The latest attack comes after a group of sailors on a fishing boat, believed to be from Pakistan, reportedly sank their vessel after the Indian Navy intercepted them in a high-speed chase in the Arabian Sea near the Indo-Pak maritime boundary.
