Somali pirates hijack Iranian vessel

[IR.IRAN]

Somali pirates in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland have hijacked an Iranian vessel, Press TV has been informed.

According to Press TV's correspondent, Somali pirates seized the Iranian vessel for illegal fishing carried out without the permission of the Puntland Administration.

Meanwhile a maritime official at the East African Seafarers Assistance Program Andrew Mwangura told Reuters on Wednesday that the ship was reported as seized on Monday.

"I hear that the villagers have taken it because of fishing illegally or for damaging fishing equipment," Mwangura said. "Vigilantes usually move when you destroy their nets or boats and hold the ship until they are paid back."

The Iranian Foreign Ministry, however, has not yet confirmed the report, saying that it is still under investigation.

The report comes as earlier in November Somali pirates hijacked a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship, Delight, operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) in the Gulf of Aden.

The surge in such attacks has caused international concern and warships from several countries have increased cooperation to crack down on buccaneers.

Earlier in December, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Parviz Sarvari warned that Iran is mulling over a military option against Somali pirates.

The French Indian Ocean joint forces top military commander Vice Admiral Gerard Valin has predicted great reduction in pirate attacks this year as international efforts have been stepped up to curb the attacks which threaten one of the world's most vital shipping routes.

He said there had been 208 pirate attacks in the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia, of which 43 had been successful in 2008.

"But since January 3 there have been only two successful attacks" he told reporters in Nairobi. "It's becoming more and more difficult for the pirates and we are becoming more and more efficient."

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels sailing between Asia, Europe and the Americas every year.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89035&sectionid=351020101

[The Exorcist]

Okay, it's been a few days, what is the Iranian navy going to do about this?

[JEskandari]

Okay, it's been a few days, what is the Iranian navy going to do about this?
nothing like the last time the wrath of God target them and they began to die one by one.:teacher3:

[TSK66]

yea they hijacked our vessel too .. :(

[Zmey Smirnoff]

Okay, it's been a few days, what is the Iranian navy going to do about this?

+1 on the question. Where is the shock and awe we've been promised?

[The Exorcist]

+1 on the question. Where is the shock and awe we've been promised?

Wrong country.
Iran has invested a good deal into buildig a good navy, time to get some use out of it.

[JEskandari]

Wrong country.
Iran has invested a good deal into buildig a good navy, time to get some use out of it.
Wrong , iran Built a good defensive navy ,it's made for Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman.it was others who claimed to make those waters safe. the only ship in iran inventory which can patrol there are it's Kilo class subs and the destroyer we are making but that ship have several month to be commissioned .i think it's better you put one of your strike forces there for example the best solution would be that you take your ship from Persian gulf to there.

[The Exorcist]

We could, and I am not sure why we are not, but I have an idea-

The last time the US went into Somalia, trying to bring food and relief supplies to a dying nation and people, things did not go so well. We lost a handful of men (Blackhawk Down) and a cowardly President yanked the troops right out, after refusing to allow them to have things like tanks and artillery in a combat zone.

A lot of people in the middle east called us villains for even trying, and made fun of us for getting shot up.

Fine, solve your own troubles now.

BTW- those Kilos are not the only ships you have that can make a strike at Somalia. A logistic support ship like the Bandar Abbas could make the trip and supply other ships. It can also carry a helicopter The old Saam class, or whatever they are called now, have a range of 5,000 nautical miles... if any are still operational. I hope they are, they were an old favorite of mine.

If even these older, more expendable ships have the range to do the job, how about some of the newer ships?

[arri]

Wrong , iran Built a good defensive navy ,it's made for Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman.it was others who claimed to make those waters safe. the only ship in iran inventory which can patrol there are it's Kilo class subs and the destroyer we are making but that ship have several month to be commissioned .i think it's better you put one of your strike forces there for example the best solution would be that you take your ship from Persian gulf to there.

Iran has several frigates and destroyers aside from the the new class that is being build domestically and enough supply ships to put two ships on around a clock patrol and provide rotation, but that's not going to do much.

If port privileges can be negotiated with Yemen, a contingent of some 100 armed patrol boats, especially with the experience Iran has in anti-smuggling could be more effective than limited number of capital ships showing their flag.

[Chogy]

Take a freighter, weld on some landing decks, and place a few Iranian attack helicopters on it. Arm the freighter with 5" or similar naval guns, some heavy machine guns, and it can protect itself.

Attack helicopters strafe and rocket the hell out of the pirates. It's simple. Those pirates need to die; they have been a thorn for far too long.

[Ayyash]

What about the allegation that the Iranian ship was actually engaged in illegal fishing?

A response consisting of navy attack helicopters or Takvaran commandoes would be the best option. I included the latter in because, while not the best tactical choice, they would provide i nice public relations demonstration of Iran's training capabilities if it went 100% according to plan, if not, it could all be swept under the rug and cobras could cover the area with rocket fire. Although, now that i think about it, blowing up pirates with TOW's would be equally effective a public statement.

[JEskandari]

We could, and I am not sure why we are not, but I have an idea-

The last time the US went into Somalia, trying to bring food and relief supplies to a dying nation and people, things did not go so well. We lost a handful of men (Blackhawk Down) and a cowardly President yanked the troops right out, after refusing to allow them to have things like tanks and artillery in a combat zone.

A lot of people in the middle east called us villains for even trying, and made fun of us for getting shot up.

Fine, solve your own troubles now.

BTW- those Kilos are not the only ships you have that can make a strike at Somalia. A logistic support ship like the Bandar Abbas could make the trip and supply other ships. It can also carry a helicopter The old Saam class, or whatever they are called now, have a range of 5,000 nautical miles... if any are still operational. I hope they are, they were an old favorite of mine.

If even these older, more expendable ships have the range to do the job, how about some of the newer ships?

Iran has several frigates and destroyers aside from the the new class that is being build domestically and enough supply ships to put two ships on around a clock patrol and provide rotation, but that's not going to do much.

If port privileges can be negotiated with Yemen, a contingent of some 100 armed patrol boats, especially with the experience Iran has in anti-smuggling could be more effective than limited number of capital ships showing their flag.

dear Exorcist certainly we have more ship that can go there , but will it financially acceptable to made such supply root and will it be effective ,as arri said by what we have now the only way that such operation would be meaningful and acceptable is that we get a port privilege from a country there (preferably Yemen)
capital ships is not the way to fight Pirates ,it need Patrol boats and Attack helicopters.

[The Exorcist]

Frigates are not capital ships. While patrols boats and helecopters sound good and are fast enough, they don't have the range or endurance to do the job.

You need base ships, but a deal with Yemen would be enormoulsy helpful. Forget the ports, get acces to an airfield on Socotra.

[arri]

Frigates are not capital ships. While patrols boats and helecopters sound good and are fast enough, they don't have the range or endurance to do the job.

You need base ships, but a deal with Yemen would be enormoulsy helpful. Forget the ports, get acces to an airfield on Socotra.

What are you going to do with attack helicopters? shoot them up? not likely. They look like regular boats, fishing, etc. from the air. You need patrol boats to check every boat that looks suspicious, stop them, board them, search them for weapons, arrest people. It would be like an anti-smuggling operation.

[Chogy]

What are you going to do with attack helicopters? shoot them up? not likely. They look like regular boats, fishing, etc. from the air. You need patrol boats to check every boat that looks suspicious, stop them, board them, search them for weapons, arrest people. It would be like an anti-smuggling operation.

I would anchor or otherwise turn the attack helicopter platform into a stationary base in international waters. Have a radio frequency set up so that ships in transit could call for help. The platform could scramble Cobras when the pirates act belligerent.

That would be some good gun-camera film... I hate piracy! :rawrrrrr3:

[Zmey Smirnoff]

I would anchor or otherwise turn the attack helicopter platform into a stationary base in international waters. Have a radio frequency set up so that ships in transit could call for help. The platform could scramble Cobras when the pirates act belligerent.

That would be some good gun-camera film... I hate piracy! :rawrrrrr3:


You'd need quite a few of those bases. If you only build one, pirate would simply avoid it. To secure shipping in such manner, you'd need to build several bases with overlapping areas to provide a secure passage for ships at all times. Now seeing as its financial crisis and recession in the world... it would be much more cost effective to nuke Somalia.

[Iranian_Imperial_Guards]

Wrong , iran Built a good defensive navy ,it's made for Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman.it was others who claimed to make those waters safe. the only ship in iran inventory which can patrol there are it's Kilo class subs and the destroyer we are making but that ship have several month to be commissioned .i think it's better you put one of your strike forces there for example the best solution would be that you take your ship from Persian gulf to there.

We are talking about f'ing pirates here.

[Iranian_Imperial_Guards]

You'd need quite a few of those bases. If you only build one, pirate would simply avoid it. To secure shipping in such manner, you'd need to build several bases with overlapping areas to provide a secure passage for ships at all times. Now seeing as its financial crisis and recession in the world... it would be much more cost effective to nuke Somalia.

What a waste. Somalia couldn't even spell "nuke".

[Zmey Smirnoff]

What a waste. Somalia couldn't even spell "nuke".

Apparently they can spell "oil tanker", "extortion" and "hostage" without any problems though, eh?

[Ricardo]

As long as the social and political situation doesn't change in Somalia, you will see more ships being hijacked.

All countries sending ships to that region are just wasting money and time.

A coalition of countries should invade Somalia and reconstruct the state.

[alopes]

Simply contract armed mercenaries to go withing the cargo ships in that region.
This security costs could easily be covered by a group of these shipping companys.
The mercenaries rotate from Ship to Ship once the ship enter or exit the piracy ladden area.

[IR.IRAN]

As long as the social and political situation doesn't change in Somalia, you will see more ships being hijacked.

All countries sending ships to that region are just wasting money and time.

A coalition of countries should invade Somalia and reconstruct the state.

i dont think invading somalia is wise, that will not work plus itl just increase civilian casulties. What i think is that the coalition of countries should take over the waters around somalia heavily armed to scare the pirots away. Alot can be done if they take the situation more seriously

[Ayyash]

Iran should just heavily support the ICU, they get valuable experience for the IRGC and al quds force commanders while still being able to retain the moral high ground of not occupying a country, and plus, the ICU is the democratic choice throughout the country. Stability through the ICU means no more pirates.

[syther]

good job *claps*

[JEskandari]

good job *claps*
you know taking Ukrainian ship with tanks or KSA Oil tanker were far more impersive than taking a small ship filled with wheat