Iranian navy Thwarts pirate attack on oil tanker in red sea

An attempt by pirates to hijack an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea was foiled after an Iranian fleet of warships present in the region rushed to the scene.Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Seyed Mahmoud Moussavi announced that the Iranian oil tanker came under attack by 15 Somali pirate speedboats off the eastern coasts of Hanish al-Kubra Island in the Red Sea, but Iran\'s Jamaran destroyer thwarted the attack with timely action. Moussavi said that this was the second conflict between Jamaran and the pirates in the region and the destroyer\'s first clash in the Red Sea. The commander noted that the Iranian fleet of warships escorted the oil tanker to secure waters. Iran\'s 16th fleet of warships, comprising IRI Bandar Abbas Warship and the home-made Jamaran Destroyer, started its naval mission on October 9. 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. 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 the 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.