“Stealing from commercial vessels in international waters is a phenomenon that has intensified in recent years, but the United Nations is not taking any effective measures in this regard,” Seyyed Shraif Hosseini, a member of the Majlis (parliament) presiding board, said.
The Public Relations Office of Iran's Navy announced on Saturday that its forces had rescued a Singaporean commercial ship from a pirate attack in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia in the Horn of Africa.
The Iranian warships rushed to the scene upon receiving a distress call and managed to repel the pirate attack following a heavy armed confrontation.
“The confrontation of the Islamic Republic Armed Forces with pirates denotes Iran's military prowess and readiness to establish security in international waters,” Hosseini added.
Iran's Navy has been multiplying its naval presence in international waters since last year, deploying vessels to the Indian Ocean and dispatching, in February 2011, two ships via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.
In addition, in line with international efforts to combat piracy, the Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008 to safeguard the vessels involved in maritime trade, especially the ships and oil tankers owned or leased by Iran.
The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for thousands of vessels traveling annually between Asia, Europe and the Americas.
mehr/281
