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TEHRAN, November 28, 2009 – A senior Iranian
commander blamed the western coalition forces deployed in the Gulf of
Aden of assistance and complicity with Somali pirates in the volatile
waters.
"Why don't the coalition forces, which enjoy super hi-tech equipment,
annihilate the buccaneers of the region forever and why do they provide
the ground for the continuation of their activities through their
suspicious supports?" Commander of Iran's first Naval Zone Fariborz
Qaderpanah asked, speaking in a detailed interview with FNA on Tuesday.
Noting that many analysts believe that there are secret hands at work
which are disturbing security in the Gulf of Aden, Qaderpanah lamented
that certain countries which are the root cause of insecurity in the
region make suspicious statements to justify their presence.
Elsewhere, he further stated that pirates' experience and practice as
well as the hi-tech weaponry supplied by the western states to the
pirates have rendered them so skillful that they can now grab a vessel
at the earliest.
Earlier on Monday, Qaderpanah had said that at present 30 battleships
and gunboats from different countries are deployed in the Gulf of Aden.
The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of
Aden since November 2008, when Somali raiders hijacked the
Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen.
The Gulf of Aden - which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and
the Mediterranean Sea - is an important energy corridor, particularly
because Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West via the Suez Canal.
The Iranian Navy recently dispatched fourth fleet of its warships to the
Gulf of Aden to defend the country's cargo ships and oil tankers against
continued attacks by the Somali pirates.
According to UN Security Council resolutions, different countries can
send their warships to the Gulf of Aden and coastal waters of Somalia
against the pirates and even with prior notice to Somali government
enter the territorial waters of that country in pursuit of Somali sea
pirates.
Source: FNA, Nov 24, 2009
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