An Iranian warship has entered the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian vessels against pirates off the coast of Somalia, state radio said on Saturday. "After travelling more than 4,000 maritime miles ... an Iranian warship entered the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian ships against pirates," the radio said, without further details.The Iranian ship joins vessels from the U.S., Denmark, Italy, Russia and other countries in patrolling the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Suez Canal and is the quickest route from Asia to Europe and the Americas.
Iran said last month it was negotiating with pirates who seized a ship it had chartered but that it was ready to use force to free the vessel. The Hong-Kong-registered cargo ship Delight, with a 25-strong crew and 36,000 tons of wheat, was attacked in November in the Gulf of Aden as it headed for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
In October, the authorities in Tehran paid a ransom to secure the release of an Iranian merchant ship with 29 seamen hijacked off the Somali coast two months earlier.