Monday, 1 November 2021 (YJC)_ Iranian naval forces conducted a successful operation to thwart a pirate attack.
A successful operation near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait has been conucted by Iranian naval forces on Monday morning, to thwart a pirate attack on one of the country’s oil tankers.
Pirates en route to the Gulf of Aden were targeted by the escort team of the Iranian Army's Navy before entering the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Four suspect boats carrying 4 to 6 armed pirates intended to attack and approach the tanker, but the escort team forced them to flee the scene.
Anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden have been conducted regularly since November 2008 by the Iranian Navy, that is the time when Somali raiders hijacked the Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen.
UN Security Council resolutions allowed different countries to send their warships to the Gulf of Aden and coastal waters of Somalia against the pirates.
The Gulf of Aden links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea and is considered an important energy corridor.