Iranian Navy Commander Adm. Habibollah Sayyari said that the 41st flotilla of the Iranian Navy was sent sent for an anti-pirate patrol mission to the Gulf of Aden.
The purpose of this heavy reinforcement is to protect Iranian commercial vessels. Sources say Iran’s naval warships in the Gulf of Aden are aimed at establishing security for cargo ships and also at sending a message of peace and friendship to the regional countries.
According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the flotilla — comprised of one destroyer and a logistical support warship — set out from the country’s southern coast Wednesday.
The Iranian Navy has been on watch in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008 as Somali pirates hijacked one of their cargo ships chartered by Iran to carry wheat off the coast of Yemen.
Linking the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Aden is an important corridor, particularly because Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West via the Suez Canal.