but the ship’s owner says the attack was all over long before the Iranian Navy arrived on the scene.
The 488-foot Maersk Texas, flying the American flag, came under attack near the UAE port of Fujairah last Thursday. Three separate security units – the Iranian Navy, an Australian naval ship and the ship’s own armed guards – mobilized to respond to the pirate advances.
Iranian state media claimed the attack was thwarted as a result of the Iranian Navy’s “vigilance and timely reaction.” The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the state news agency, said the pirates “fled the scene as soon as they spotted the presence” of the Iranian warship, and that the distressed ship’s crew “thanked the Iranian Navy and sailed toward its destination safely.”
But the ship’s parent company said it was the actions of the onboard security unit that repelled the attack.
“Maersk Texas activated defensive measures per US Coast Guard-approved vessel security plan,” read a statement from the ship’s parent company, Maersk Line Ltd. “Despite the clear warning signals, the [pirate] skiffs continued their direct line toward Maersk Texas.”
That’s when the ship’s security team fired warning shots, but the pirates shot back and a firefight ensued. The Maersk Texas eventually outgunned the pirates. No one aboard the freighter was injured, the firm said, and the pirates eventually gave up their effort to board and sailed away.
A company spokesperson said, “Maersk Texas heard from the Iranian Navy over the radio in response to the initial distress call, but our vessel received no assistance from the Iranian Navy.”
The Maersk Line was originally a Danish firm, but it shifted to the United States after Germany invaded Denmark in World War II and is now entirely American.
The boasting by the Iranian Navy about its alleged aid to the US-flagged ship recalled an incident earlier this year when the US Navy boasted about saving an Iranian vessel from pirates. The Iranian response then was to denigrate the US Navy, saying there was nothing to boast about since it was every Navy’s responsibility to aid a ship in distress.
That is the international protocol. “If you hear of a vessel in distress, you do your best to assist” on the high seas, said Lt. Cdr. Mark Hankey, a spokesperson for the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. “If the Iranians responded to a mayday call, then that’s perfectly normal activityÖ. That’s what the whole mayday call is about.”
Meanwhile, a senior Iranian Navy officer said “hidden hands” are encouraging piracy by the Somalis.
Rear Admiral Gholam-Reza Khadem Bigham, deputy commander of the Iranian Navy, said fishing activity off the Somali coast by rich countries has rendered the local fishing and agricultural communities stagnant, prompting many Somalis to resort to piracy just to survive.
He said most of the piracy used to occur in the Gulf of Aden, but now the pirates are expanding their range into the Indian Ocean. He claimed that ordinary Somali pirates or seamen do not have the ability to launch attacks there without help from more skillful societies.
That led him to conclude that the well-organized piracy operations are enabled and supported by “hidden hands,” which he didn’t elaborate on.