Commander: Iranian warships patrolling Bab el-Mandeb strait

The Iranian Navy’s 26th Fleet of Warships has conducted several successful anti-piracy patrols in Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari announced on Wednesday, adding that the country's flotillas will continue patrolling the waters. “Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and is a place where pirates stage attacks (on cargo ships and oil tankers),” Rear Admiral Sayyari told FNA in the Northern city of Rasht today. The Iranian Navy has dispatched several fleets of warships to the Gulf of Aden and North of the Indian Ocean to protect the country's cargo ships and oil tankers against pirates. The 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. The Navy dispatched its 25th flotilla of warships to the Gulf of Aden in early April to protect the country's cargo ships and oil tankers against pirates in the Gulf of Aden, Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea. The 25th fleet intercepted 540 military and non-military vessels passing through the Gulf of Aden during its mission. It comprised of Alborz missile warship and Larak logistic ship. 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 through the Suez Canal.