Iran calls for internal efforts to fight piracy
Iran has called for collective efforts to fight sea piracy in the world. Iran’s Director-General of Ports and Shipping Organization for Maritime Affairs Ali Estiri said collective efforts by the international community are essential in an all-out fight against piracy, Bar-Kulan reports.
He said that Iran will maintain its “powerful presence” in the high seas as long as piracy exists, adding the issue of piracy has been on the rise in the recent years, especially off the coast of Somalia.
The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, when Somali pirates 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 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.
