At the presence of Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, the Navy's 41st Fleet, comprising Martyr Naghdi destroyer and Lavan logistic warship departed for the high seas and Gulf of Aden to conduct anti-piracy patrols.
Iran's naval warships in the Gulf of Aden is aimed at establishing security for cargo ships and sending message of peace and friendship to the regional countries.
“Iran’s Navy, as a strategic force, is in charge of bolstering security of the country’s border lines on high seas and international waters,” noted commander Sayyari at the see-off ceremony for the 41st fleet.
He went on to add that so far, two pirate attacks have been thwarted by Iran’s Navy; “in addition to providing security to the shipping lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the 41st flotilla aims to maintain the authority of Iran by confronting the Iranophobia and the enemy’s propaganda.”
Also, the Iranian Navy's 40th fleet of warships, which had been dispatched to the high seas on a 55-day mission, was welcomed after returning home in Bandar Abbas port in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.
The flotilla of warships ended its mission in the Gulf of Aden, and returned home after tracing and identifying 762 cargo ships and 16 Iranian navy vessels during its mission.
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.
Linking the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Aden is an important energy corridor, particularly because Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West via the Suez Canal.
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