The Iranian Navy has dispatched a seventh flotilla of warships to the Gulf of Aden to defend the country's cargo ships and oil tankers against continued attacks by Somali pirates.
The Iranian Army navy announced in a statement today that it had dispatched forces to the Gulf of Aden and northern Indian Ocean after a special ceremony in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas attended by commander of the Navy's Southern Fleet Adm. Ebrahim Ashkan and other senior commanders.
The navy's seventh fleet, including two destroyers named "Sabalan" and "Khark," were dispatched from the first naval zone on an extraterritorial mission to the Gulf of Aden.
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.
Source: Fars, Iran, March 17, 2010
