February 2, 2024
The Indian Navy says it has rescued three Iranian fishing boats that were seized in three incidents by Somali pirates in late January, suggesting a resumption of pirate activity aimed at Iran.
The Indian Navy said it rescued all the fishermen on board without injury but it didn’t say what it did with the Somali pirates.
These were the first known hijackings of Iranian vessels in several years. But Iranian media have not been seen to report them. The Islamic Republic likes to insist that it has stopped all hijacking attempts.
The Indian Navy warship Sumitra said the fishing vessels were hijacked by pirates along the east coast of Somalia.
In the first case in late January, the Indian warship was responding to a distress message from the Iranian-flagged Iman, which radioed that it had been boarded by pirates and its 17-member crew taken hostage.
“Sumitra intercepted the vessel, acted in accordance with the established SOPs [Standard Operating Procedures] to coerce the pirates for the safe release of the crew along with the boat & ensured the successful release of all 17 crew members along with the boat,” a statement by the Indian Navy said. “The FV [fishing vessel] was subsequently sanitized and released for onward transit.”
In successive days, the Indian Navy reported rescuing the Iranian boat al-Naeemi on January 29 and Omari on January 31.
The Indian Navy has stepped up surveillance in the region and deployed around 10 warships in the face of recent attacks on India-bound merchant vessels.
For years, Iran has deployed one warship and one supply ship in the Gulf of Aden and southern Red Sea to protect Iranian merchant vessels. It regularly announces that it has foiled pirate attacks on Iranian ships. But it does not name those ships and international bodies that tabulate pirate activities around the world do not believe the Iranian reports and do not record them.
Somali pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden effectively ended a half-dozen years ago. But there continue to be attacks on small fishing boats operating east of Somalia, where the Iranian Navy does not patrol and where the three latest boats were seized.