Two Iranian Navy vessels managed to repel a group of eight pirate skiffs that were approaching an Iranian product tanker in the Gulf of Aden, Iran’s FARS news agency informed.
Having detected the threat the Navy opened fire on the skiffs some 120 km southeast of the city of Al-Mukalla, Yemen, causing the pirates to flee the area.
No damage has been reported to the oil tanker.
The two warships, Jamaran destroyer and Bushehr logistics vessel, form 32nd flotilla, that has been safeguarding the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden since November 2014.
This is the fourth intervention of the flotilla since the beginning of its patrolling mission, the Tehran Times writes.
Iranian warships joined anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden in 2008 and have since foiled over 150 pirate attacks on merchant vessels and oil tankers, according to the navy’s data.
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World Maritime News Staff; Image: Wikimedia