to the Gulf of Aden last week on anti-piracy patrols with boasts of their great success in protecting Iranian ships from Somali pirates but without announcing that another Iranian vessel has been hijacked by the pirates.
The Mehr news agency last week quoted Majid Salehi, the owner of a fleet of fishing boats, as saying that two of his boats were attacked by pirates in September and one of them was seized by pirates while the other got away safely.
He said 13 fishermen were aboard the pirated vessel. He said it was seized in the Indian Ocean near the Gulf of Aden in late September.
Salehi said, “The pirates asked for $2 million in ransom for their release, but unfortunately they have not contacted us since then.”
The Iranian government has not announced the seizure of the boat while talking of its great success in protecting Iranian shipping and denigrating other navies for not stopping the hijacking of their vessels.