Iran vows action against Somali pirates

TEHRAN, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The Iranian navy will remain on guard in the Gulf of Aden as long as the threat from Somali pirates persists, military commanders said.

Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari announced his forces would remain active off the Somali coast, even pursuing pirates in order to secure the area, Iran's Press TV reports.

"The Iranian navy will remain in the Gulf of Aden as long as the situation in the Mandab Strait is insecure," he said.

Iran dispatched six warships and other vessels into international waters in the Gulf of Aden earlier this year to protect Iranian cargo shipments traveling through the troubled waterway.

Iranian media reports noted the deployments were in line with U.N. resolutions, adding Iran's navy would come to the assistance of any foreign ship under threat from Somali pirates.

Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden hijacked an Iranian-chartered vessel in November 2008, holding it for months. In a daring weekend raid, nine pirates hijacked a massive oil tanker off the Somali coast.

The deployment could unsettle already strained relations with Yemen, however, as the Sunni government in Sanaa accuses Tehran of backing the Shiite al-Houthi rebel group fighting near the border with Saudi Arabia.